Nap Crisis

This is bad. I honestly don't know what to do short of letting him
scream for a couple hours, going for a walk, or letting him nap on my
chest in the rocker... Today, since it's freezing outside, we're in
the rocker. My right arm is numb, and I'm typing this entry all with
my left thumb! But, he's exhausted... And I'd feel worse I think if he
had no nap! (And Greg would go bonkers if he screamed any longer...)

So.. Open to suggestions to why Atticus has suddenly decided to stop
napping on weekends, and how to remedy the situation! Solid 2 hour
naps at school on Mon-Fri...(they normally have to wake him up!)

~ Jen

Babble

Both yesterday and today - Atticus has been babbling and talking to himself almost non-stop. Just chatting away...

At our play date yesterday at Diane and Eleanora's house, one of the other little girls, Cate, was doing the same thing. I'm not sure if this is the age, if he heard her "talking", or if it's just a sign that he can now hear himself (sans fluid buildup) and he just enjoys hearing himself!

Any which way - it's really cute and rather amusing.

Recently Found - Cool Blogs!

So, I find myself once again sitting on my front porch watching my son sleep in his stroller. It's like we've flashed back to when he was 8 months old?!? He's suddenly refusing to nap in his crib. And I mean refusing. Screaming till his face is as red as a tomato and he's gone all hoarse! So - we went for another walk. The upside to all of this is that I truly need the exercise and it's been kind of nice to get out an about. The weather today is a bit chilly (guessing about mid 40s) - but with beautiful sunshine! A couple of knit caps, a Bubbe knit blanket and away we went.

But I digress.

I've pulled out the laptop and am using some downtime to get caught up on some friend's blogs and just peruse the Internet. I've stumbled upon a cool blog for anyone with kids -- and another few I found linked from my friend Cari's blog. This Internet thing is pretty cool....

Tot Bargains - Looks like a new deal everyday. I'm kinda bummed about the ones that I've already missed...

Austin Mamas - Hasn't been updated in a couple weeks, but I'm sure I'll find some good local stuff here!

Slow Cooker Recipes - This one should really come in handy for us! I actually bought groceries today for two different crock-pot recipes this morning. Granted, one was supposed to be for dinner tonight and that's not going to happen because it's now 2:30 pm and I'm currently sitting on my front porch... but whatever. There's always tomorrow.

Jen Update

So... if you've spoken to me over the past week, you've heard me coughing up a lung so to speak. I really thought it was Cedar Fever. But... today, the cough started to feel a bit different. And, even after a dose of Robitussin (cleared with the OB) and some Halls drops - I was starting to scare the other patrons at the Starbucks down the street from Atticus's school. So, a quick Google search revealed an urgent care clinic about a mile up the road.

Short version - most likely bronchitis. My white blood cell count could be elevated from the pregnancy, but after listening to my wheezing, the doctor said - yep, you really need to start on something soon. I confirmed the prescriptions with the OB's nurse and then headed over to the local Walgreen's. Here's to hoping I start feeling better by tomorrow! I've started on a z-pack and an inhaler of some sort.

Now, if only I could get some sympathy from my husband - we'd be all set... after all, it's his child too that I'm trying not to cough up in a fit of wheezing and hacking!!

Atticus Update

Surgery went well. Atti was a trooper. All was well until nap time. Go figure. I told him it was nap time and things started out great... he went to the front door and grabbed his nap mat which was ready to take back to "school" tomorrow. I tried laying the mat down in his room. It almost worked. Then, I tried putting him in the crib. Then I tried putting the nap mat IN the crib. 45 minutes of screaming later - I decided it wasn't going to happen. I knew that he was exhausted, so I strapped Atticus into the "big" stroller and took off walking around the neighborhood. About a mile and half or so into the walk (maybe 2 miles?) he finally fell asleep. I walked for a bit longer, then pulled up in front of the house and just let him sleep in the stroller for a while. But... he woke up SCREAMING! I got everything inside the house, grabbed Atti and it took a while to calm him down. I sat on the sofa with him in my lap and poof - he fell asleep again for another hour plus! But, then woke up SCREAMING again. I'm talking waking up clawing at me, legs kicking, the works. I'm not sure what was going on - lingering effects from the drugs? Bad dreams? It took a little bit, but then he was right back to happy go-lucky little man. Let's hope it stays that way!

Eek!

I pulled out not one, but TWO gray hairs this weekend. Going on the assumption that your hair grows approximately 1/4 inch every month.. I'm estimating these two started growing the day I went into labor with Atticus!!

I have a feeling, it's not going to stop with two...

Tubes and Cedar Fever

Atticus is getting tubes tomorrow morning at 8:30am. Poor guy has pretty much had an ear infection since we got home from NYC and nothing is helping him... Fingers crossed that all goes well and that the tubes allow the fluid to drain and little man will be WAY more comfortable!

In addition to the constant ear aches, he and I both are suffering from Cedar Fever. It's awful. Runny nose, hacking cough, wheezing feeling in your chest... Greg actually took Atticus into the doctor yesterday (Saturday) just to confirm that it wasn't something worse. Atti has been coughing so hard that he turns bright red and tears run down his face. I feel so terrible - but I'm doing the exact same thing. It feels alot like asthma symptoms, except for the constant cough. Just plain miserable.

So, I think I may join the local "cut down all cedar trees" movement. I'm not normally for destroying innocent trees for my own personal gain - but dudes, I can't freaking breathe! And I'm afraid all my coughing is going to wake the finally sleeping baby! Atti has been coughing so much during the day that he's only managed to nap for a 20 minutes yesterday a for about 40 today. Search and destroy all cedar trees. That works for me.

Sleep

I seem to spend a lot of time thinking about, reading about, talking about, discussing, pondering, worrying about (you get the idea) SLEEP. I'm sure I'm not the first parent to do this - but man, it's time consuming.

The good news is that we've had two great days of napping and pretty good night time sleep. Yesterday, I had to wake Atticus up from a 3 hour nap in order to make it to our photo shoot. Today, we let him sleep - and he napped, no joke, 3 hours and 45 minutes. That's a record even for Atti!

Let's hope that good daytime sleep = good night time sleep. The guy could use it.

And on a totally unrelated note - dude - what's going on with the allergies? Even with Claritin, I can hardly breathe and my nose is running like there's no tomorrow. It's really freaking annoying. I'm hoping this is just allergies....

And even more unrelated - Martin Scorscese has some crazy eyebrows! (Got the Golden Globes on in the background....)

Links Updated

Ok, so I'm not a YouTube genius. I think I've updated the links now so that you can see all the videos from the previous post. Let me know if you're still having trouble.

Another Early Morning

Atticus has taken to waking up somewhere between 430 and 530 am. And -- he's waking up unhappy. It's a delight. I just wish I knew what was causing the distress. Poor guy. Poor Mommy and Daddy!

I did try something new last night -- we fed Atticus the same thing we were having for dinner (with a few exceptions). He had some bruschetta chicken, mashed potatoes and of course fruit. Now, he didn't eat as much as if I'd catered to him, but he did fairly well.

Greg and I are finally going out to dinner tonight, just the two of us. It's been a while since that occurred. I'm hoping Atticus falls asleep without any trouble and can stay asleep at least for the couple hours we're gone. Granted, the restaurant we're going to is walking distance - but still...

I've also posted some new pictures to the gallery. I've uploaded some videos to YouTube from the first haircut as well. Please don't look at me - it was not my intention to be in any form of media that day....

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

And a random clip of Atticus being silly in the hotel room in Bowling Green, OH.

Seriously?

It's only 8:26, it's only 8:26, it's only 8:26.

Woke up to a SCREAMING toddler at 5 am. 5:45 I finally caved and went to get him.

7:40 - ready for Greg to take him to school, for me to get ready for work, yada yada - when I hear Greg say, "Jen, a little help please..."

Greg had a bloody nose that wouldn't stop bleeding for 45 minutes!

He just left to take Atticus to school.

I'm starving, not dressed and faced with more work than should be allowed on a Monday morning. Can I have a do-over? A Monday that doesn't start off with a screaming toddler would be a good start.

Thanks.

Oooh Shiny

The day trip to Houston was successful. We arrived at the dealership, Atticus ran around the showroom like a mad man, and we left with a new to us 2006 Audi A4 wagon. (It's a pretty dark blue with tan leather interior.) Greg was a little sad to see the Expedition go (it'd been with him almost 10 years) - but the new wagon gets so much better gas mileage and it's a much more manageable size! Of course, it does run on premium gas (ugh) but since it gets an average of 30 mpg on the freeway - I'll try to overlook that little fact...

After we picked up the car, we met the Fritzer girls out for lunch. A big thank you to them for driving up and out of their way to meet up with us. It was good to see Amy and her kiddos, it had been too long. Emma looks so grown up - missing teeth and all... and little Katie is a firecracker for sure!

Bath time tonight was a hoot. Atticus was talking up a storm, splashing all around and generally just having a grand ole time. Let's hope he sleeps allright tonight... he didn't eat much today. Greg also took some video this evening of Atticus just running around his room and being silly. I think it's too big to post here, but I may be able to get it onto YouTube with the new fancy laptop. :-)

And yes... I still need to free the photos and other video from my camera. I promise to let everyone know once that's done!

Friday Catch-Up

Whew, what a day.

Atticus and I met up with our friends Diane and Eleanora for our first Music Together class. Diane and I weren't quite sure what to expect, but I think for a first class, things went relatively smoothly. We were the only two "newbies" in the class, but that didn't seem to bother the kiddos. Actually, Atticus - being Atticus, ran around the room like a mad man for the majority of the class. His face was so great though at the beginning of class when the instructor first pulled out the guitar. His face just lit up. Of course, it lit up again when the "free" music play time happened. Bring on the egg shakers, drums, tambourines, clackers, etc! The class ends with a good-bye song where all the kids get to strum the guitar. Atticus had a field day... so much so that I had to ask Greg to pull out his guitar this afternoon. Atticus had a hoot of a time playing with his play instruments that Aunt Yvonne got him for Christmas along with the guitar.

After class, Greg and Atticus headed off to Atti's 18 month check up and I headed out for an OB check up. Me - all's well. Baby baby is wiggling - heart rate's good, yada yada. I've got a big level 2 sonogram scheduled for 3 weeks from today. Hopefully baby baby still plays shy and we can keep the gender a surprise! Atticus wasn't as lucky as me at his appointment. Poor guy still has ear infections and he had to get 2 shots. After the appointment, Greg took him back to school - until they called to tell me that he had woken up from him nap with hives. Seriously - again - you've got to be kidding me. A few phone calls with the nurse and the doctor, one dose of Benedryl and a dose of antibiotic later and poor guy just still was having a rough day. We gave him some Motrin before bed -- and I'll have another look in the morning. As for his stats -- it seems Atticus has actually lost a little bit of weight. I think he's just growing so fast that no matter how much we feed him, we can't keep up! He clocked in today at 28 lbs and 1 oz and just over 33" tall. Both those stats put him in the 75-90% percentiles.

I'm trying not to panic over work at the moment. I'm out of the office on Fridays, but of course always checking emails on the phone. It seems that my replacement may have undone a huge undertaking that I did just prior to the holiday break. I'll need some time to sit down and read all the emails and look over the attachments - but I fear he just undid a week's worth of my work on a particular project. Ugh. The new position is going well - I'm getting into the swing of things and learning several new processes, reports, etc.

Oh... and did I mention we bought a new car? I know, I know. Greg's had the new car itch for a while. I did manage to convince him that we really didn't need a new car (it's actually a 2006) - but I couldn't stop the itch. :-) We're headed to Houston tomorrow to pick up our Audi A4 wagon. Looks something like this - pictures of the actual car to come eventually. The car replaces the Expedition - and while I'm sad to see the school bus go, the new Audi will get waaaaay better gas mileage, comes with full warranty, yada yada. It's not as roomy as the truck, but really - how often do you need something the size of the Expedition?

If all goes ok in the morning with the little man - then the 3 of us will all head to Houston first thing tomorrow morning to pick up the car. We're going to try and meet up with the Fritzer girls for lunch - then book it back to Austin. Nothing like a day trip to Houston and back in the frigid weather... but, it'll be good to see Amy and the girls.

Well, the bottle of Tums and my bed is calling...

3 Sign Sentences

Well... I drafted a blog entry in Word earlier, but I can't cut and paste it into Blogger for some unknown reason. Grrr. I'll try again, but essentially - Atticus yesterday was using 3 word "sign" sentences. I was cutting up his fruit in the morning when he came to the kitchen with Greg. He looked up and signed More, Food, Please.

Home Sweet Home

Sigh. We've survived the holidays. We went to Michigan, Ohio, Indiana and pretty much half of Texas. Phew. It's been a busy 11 days to say the least! Pictures will be coming soon - but all in all a great vacation.

Atticus is happily back in his own room, in his own bed, with his own toys, etc. The travel was a bit rough on him - he's a fan of daily structure (as are most toddlers) so the vacation wasn't exactly his cup of tea! I can only imagine. It's pretty stressful to be a little man with so many "new" people all clamoring to hold you, squeeze you, play with you, entertain you... add that to the fact that you don't have your normal routine or your normal bed or food, etc. But, Atticus was a trooper. He played with family members galore and was on his best behavior for our lunch outing with the Judge. (Big sigh of relief!) He didn't scream or throw any fits on the airplane - there were a few minor meltdowns over the course of the trip, but nothing terrible. Atticus was also a trooper while Greg and I drove all over the Toledo "metroplex" looking at suburbs and possible neighborhoods for our impending move.

However, now that we are home - I can tell everyone that we will not be traveling again anytime soon unless where we are going comes with 2 bedrooms. If you want to see the 3 of us - Austin is a fabulous place to visit. :) We'll be here for the next 8 months.

Baby Baden is doing well. Flip-flopping and wiggling all about. No weird cravings yet. No strong feelings or premonitions on boy/girl either. I have my 20 week check-up this coming Friday (even though I'll technically be 21 weeks). We're over halfway there! That's a little scary!

OK - this is really a disjointed post and not making much sense, so I'll sign off for now. A more cohesive synopsis of our vacation and trip to the Midwest coming soon...