Our trip to Arkansas

Brennan, James, and Noah
Brennan and Luke
James, Brennan, and Luke
James, Luke, Noah, April, Kyle, Brennan
Luke, James, Brennan

Brennan and I took a little trip to see our friends in Arkansas this past week - it was so fun! We hung out with my BFF April and her three kids - Luke (4), James (almost 3), and Noah (3 months). Brennan wanted to do everything the older boys did and loved to try and poke Noah's face. Here are some pics! FYI - they all wear size 4 diapers - how funny considering the age differences (except Noah obviously!)!

Gog

Gack the Gog
The bruise has healed - just a little incident
Walking might happen soon!

Gog - that's b-man's new word! It means DOG! Over and over and over - he just looks at Tucker and says, "Gog". And last night on our walk, every time we saw a dog he would say GOG! Sometimes I think he is always trying to say Tucker - he calls him Gack. So it is Gack the Gog. Of course, he loves to say Hi - which is more like, AHHHHHH when you walk into a room and AHHHHH when you are leaving. Hi and Bye. So great. :)

Sleep update

I haven't posted about sleep in a while......


So I was really excited about the book - the no cry sleep solution and eagerly poured through it - did the sleep logs and everything. Even created a sleep plan. And. That's. As. Far. As. I. Got. :) I just didn't feel like I wanted to commit to it. I kept asking myself what the issue was - change? Time? Less sleep? And I concluded that while I want more sleep, I wasn't 100% sure I really wanted things to change.
Now - that being said, we (I) did start doing some things from our sleep plan:

• I introduced a "lovey" though after two weeks, Brennan still won't have anything to do with it. He throws it when we nurse with it and also out of his crib. So much for that.
  
• I moved bedtime 100% into his room - I used to red in his room and nurse on the couch (for lack of a comfortable seat in his room), but decided to change that. It takes a while, but it seems to help.
  
• I have tried to change from nursing to sleep 100% of the time to only some of the time - this was easy. He is nursing less and nurses as part of the bed time routine, but almost always I walk/rock him to sleep
  
• I thought we would try to get him into his crib all the time - who am I kidding? I don't want to! So we are starting in the crib and then mid-night, bringing him into our bed. It totally works! PJ and I are both good with it. And mornings are oh so fun with Mr. B. Not to mention, he sleeps better with us and longer with us! Who wouldn't love snugglin with mama and dada?
  
• In the middle of the night, I am not always nursing and can sometimes pat to sleep or walk to sleep. Sometimes I just have to lay him back down and he is out!

Without doing a formal sleep log, last night went really well! He was 100% out (on his back - 1st time that's EVER happened in his crib!) by 7:45pm. Then woke up briefly at 9ish and I just needed to put him back into a horizontal position and he was fine. At about 10 he came to bed with me - nursed and didn't wake up again until after 3am - WHAT - AMAZING (and keep in mind, the experts say that a baby technically sleeps through the night when they sleep 5 hours in a row - YEAH FINALLY)!!!!!!! Nursed at 3am and again at 5am, up at 6:30am. YAY!!!!! I feel soooo refreshed today. I think this has been what has happened the past few nights, though I make a point not to count the # of times awake or look at the clock, so I could not be 100% sure. It helps that he is on a teething break for once.

Also - got my new baby ergo this weekend and LOVE LOVE LOVE it. We walked last night and this morning. I put him on my back - it was great! So much better than a stroller and easier when walking with Tucker too. My back hurts a little today, but that's okay.

Aunt JJ and her shower

We had a great weekend - Gma and Gpa McCool came to visit and so did Aunt JJ and Uncle Bryan! It was soo fun. Mom had a baby shower for Aunt JJ and she got lots of cool stuff that I wanted to play with. Another girl was there, Anna, and we played, but when I grabbed her face, she started crying. I was confused. Mom thought it was priceless. We also went to 96th Street Steakburgers and I seriously ate almost my ENTIRE grilled cheese with pickles. I am a growing boy.

I think I made her cry...

Laughing after I finished my entire grilled cheese!

Rough but fun weekend - Happy 4th!

So little B had a kinda rough weekend - nless his heart. Well you know he is a pretty active baby (only stops moving when 100% asleep!) and he's been a maniac crawler for a few months now - started cruising recently - and now has taken up climbing! He went up quite a few stairs this weekend. Okay, but back to the point....

At daycare on Friday he was pulling up on a little chair - Sharon turned her back - he climbed on top - and then fell. We are not quite sure what happened exactly but he has quite the shiner on his cheek and really cut up his finger. Didn't really seem to bother him. Then on Saturday we was crawling and his hand slipped and he busted his lip on the floor. Not to mention those two top teeth are cutting through and his gums just look PAINFUL - very swollen and red - you can see the outline of the teeth through his gums. Bless his little heart.

We had a great 4th though - Brennan's friends from playgroup and a few others came by for an early BBQ in our backyard. Nothing like starting at 3:30 so all the babies can be home in their beds by 7:30! It was like Cinderella - the clock struck 7 and poof, everyone was gone. We got B to bed, yeah for him sleeping through fireworks, and enjoyed the evening in our backyard! It was great!

Sleep - well I haven't quite started the new sleep plan yet. I want to, I think......I figure that I better be absolutely SURE before I commit to something new. For the most part I have our plan figured out, but am just not ready. Brennan has moved back into our bed - and now that Tucker is out of our bed (yes all four of us used to attempt to sleep in our queen!), there seems to be a lot more space (makes sense - get rid of the 90 pound dog and the space that is there is amazing!), and Brennan is sleeping better in between us. I love having him sleep with us. Mornings with him in bed are hilarious. He starts waking up and he will situp - then throw his body over one of ours - then sit up again and repeat.....he nurses for a while and then all of a sudden...he POPS awake - and just sits there and pokes at our faces and talks - VERY LOUDLY mind you, he is NOT a quiet baby (hmmmmm......maybe he got that from his dad?! LOL!!!! JK). Anyway, I like how things are going so far...... we'll see what happens.

Looking forward to the weekend - having a baby shower for my sister-in-law - see her blog, it is super cute!

My mom turned 30!

How cute am I?
Mom (she's 30!) and me
Suitcase - so fun to play with cars in here!
The cows - whoa

Dear Friends,

My mom is OLD! She just turned 30!!!!!! LOL! Here are some pics from her birthday - we went to a dairy farm to eat lunch, have milkshakes, and look at the cows. We also went for a run and went to the Farmer's Market. Dad and I brought her breakfast in bed on Sunday and also gave her really good presents. We love mom!

Uh Uh Oh...

I love baths - especially getting water poured over my head! Splish Splash!

Me and Aunt JJ

Hi MeMa!

playing w/ Gaga
Me and Miles
Squirming w/ Grt gma and gpa Meyer
Me and gpa Hunt - so cozy

That's Brennan's new favorite phrase! His Aunt JJ taught it to him in Cali last week and we all say it ALL THE TIME now! It is seriously too cute!

Here are some recent pics of the B-Man - he sees MeMa in the window, loves cuddling with his Gpa Hunt, poses with Aunt JJ, hangs out with his Grt Grand Parents, smiles during bathtime, playing with my friend Miles, and a few others! Such a happy baby - how lucky am I? The luckiest mommy ever.

Sleep update - last night was AMAZING! I went to pilates, so PJ had to put him down and he was skepitcal, claiming, but I don't have boobs, so how will I get him to sleep? But guess what - he did - and easily. They went through our routine and by the end, Brennan just laid his head down on his daddy's chest and fell asleep. I imagine it was too cute. That was probably at about 7:30pm. Then he woke up at 9:30 to nurse, which made sense since he did not have his normal snack before bed. Then he woke up at 12:50 and 4:50. Are you kidding me - I feel so frickin refreshed today - wahoo! Of course at 5am he wanted to be awake so we laid on the couch together (see no bed still!) until 6:30 when I finally put him back in his crib and got ready while he was sleeping. Yes, yes, got ready WHILE HE WAS SLEEPING - did a miracle occur in my house last night? I think so. Daddy is putting Bman to bed more often!