Hi, Mom

As I was getting ready for bed last night, I kept hearing a thump, thump noise. It was coming from the wall shared by the bathroom and Philip's room/closet.

I opened the baby's door and he was standing in his crib. He looked at me and very clearly and very much awake said, "Hi, Mom! What ya doin'?"

So he didn't get to sleep until after 11 last night and woke up before 8. I don't think he'll put up much of a fight at naptime today.

Don't Float Away!

The baby went to bed on time last night at 9 o'clock. Later I was in the bathroom huddled in front of the heater and sitting in front of the steamer trying to steam my clogged nasel passages open. It finally worked and I was heading to bed to try and get to sleep while I could still breathe. I went into the baby's room/closet to cover him with his blanket and, in the dar, I could see him just sitting there. Scared the crap out of me. He was so quiet, I thought he was asleep. Instead he was sitting there. Why? Because he and his bed were SOAKED! He likes to play with his, ummm, equipment, and so he had pushed his diaper down far enough that the diaper may as well have been off.

I had put him to bed in a 2-piece pajama set because that's all he had in his drawer. At 11:30, I dug a footie pj out of the clean laundry pile for him. It zips all the way from his knee to his neck and he doesn't yet know how to upzip it. Ha!

On the plus side, I got my day's allotment of smooches from the baby before I put him back to bed. He doesn't give them out much during the day, but 2 and a half hours after bedtime, he's all lovey.

Lavendar

Sunday & Monday night the baby woke himself up coughing. Finally, I got smart and gave him some medicine before he went to bed. I put some lavendar baby oil on him because his skin is so dry and scaly. You know - lavendar - the stuff that is supposed to make you relax and go to sleep faster.

Yeah, right.

Apparently, no one clued Philip into this secret of the lavendar. I put him to bed and he just stood in his crib singing and dancing and rattling the bars.

For over an hour.

Then he finally fell asleep and either slept through the entire night or I was so tired I didn't hear him!

Baby News

The 4 molar teeth are officially through.

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He's been throwing up occasionally for the past 2 days. My washer is still broken - this is not good! He still plays and eats and drinks and has no fever. Just every once in awhile, he throws up. ?!?!?!?!? He's the 4th kid, I still don't know what to do with him but wait it out or see if he gets a fever or listless. So I don't really even know if he's sick or just enjoys purging.

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A couple of weeks ago, we were reading a story and there was a part with a car that went "Beep, Beep!" Philip immediately turned to me and beeped my nose. Then he beeped his own nose. So, once again I have a child that thinks a nose is a 'beep'. (He doesn't know nose, I tried, but 'beep' he understands!)

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Here's our little nighttime ritual: I advise him it's "Bedtime for Bonzo!" and ask him who Bonzo is, then I say "It's you!" as I pick him up. We go down the hall and I let him turn off the kitchen light and his bedroom light (if they're not on, I have to turn them on first.) Then we talk to the "shadow baby" for awhile. We pat the shadow baby's head and poke him in the side (Philip thinks this is hilarious!) Then I can lay him down and he'll go to sleep - or he'll wait about 15 minutes and then start yelling at us. Whichever. At least he's in bed.

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Today we went to the store. When we got home, I caught the little guy trying to carry my 24-pack of Mountain Dew. "Me help." he said. He didn't want help - he was helping me. Such a good baby!

My Little Angel

I was holding my little baby last night and he dozed off to sleep. And I looked at him and just looked at his perfect little face with its perfect little nose and chin and lips and eyes. He truly is a beautiful baby. I was almost awestruck by this little guy. And then I got hit with a blast from the future and I could see myself as a grandmother and my little baby would have a baby of his own.

I hope he will take the time to look at his sleeping baby the way I saw him last night. And I hope he will be awestruck by her as well.



And, I hope, I truly hope, that when he looks at his beautiful little baby who just dozed off in his arms it is in the middle of the gazillionth night in a row that she has woken up 2 or 3 times a night thereby keeping him from getting a decent night of sleep - ever. And, I hope he remembers his mother's (that would be me) words of wisdom, "Someday I hope you will have a child of your own and I hope she will be JUST LIKE YOU!"

Then I hope my baby will call his mother (again, me) the next morning just to say, "I'm sorry for all those sleepless nights and I understand now how you felt."

To which I will reply, "Do not call here before 10am again. I am still trying to catch up on the sleep you refused to let me have when you were a baby!"

Sorry, Mom

There will be no more resting on the couch. not anymore. Not when there is a curious 7-month-old scooting around the place. He likes to check stuff out. His favorite so far seems to be the video tapes on the shelf under the tv. But he has also found my desk, the extension cord, and the kids' toy area. Luckily, most of the little toys are put up high but you never know when one will show up. This weekend, I caught him chewing on a french fry that somebody dropped on the floor.

Speaking of not getting any rest - Philip woke up last night but he wasn't really awake. He was kind of between asleep and awake. He was crying but it was like he couldn't wake up. He would flail his arm around trying to grab onto something but at the same time try to push me away. He does this once in awhile. I don't know if it's night terrors or what but it takes awhile to calm him down and you have to keep him calm for about 20 minutes before you can actually lay him back down in his bed even if he seems to have fallen back to sleep.

The Drool King

This baby is SO DROOLY. He can soak thru a bib in less than an hour. Clearly, I need to invest in more bibs. I really don't remember the others being this bad.

On a positive note, he FINALLY let me get some sleep last night. He slept for 10 hours! It was heavenly. If only I could dare to hope he's finally settled in to the new house and will keep sleeping like this. Now if only I could get him to take a decent nap or 2 during the day...

Favorite Thing

My new favorite thing to do is to fall asleep, let Mommy lay me down in my crib, stay asleep for awhile to let her relax and think she's about to be able to get some things done, and then wake up before she can even get started.

Also, this woman has 3 children older than me, why do I only have 3 pairs of long pants to wear this fall? She'd better dig out those storage bins and see if there is anything else for me to wear.

Late Nights

It's been a busy couple of days here lately. Sunday we went to the fair. Philip fell asleep about 10 and slept until almost 8. Then yesterday, he had to have shots. He did not enjoy them. He was crabby all afternoon and evening and finally fell asleep about 10:30. Then he didn't wake up until just after 9 this morning. I had to go check on him several times to make sure he was still breathing. He was sideways in his crib and his head was bent sideways because of the wall of the crib. Now he is lying on the floor and Stephanie is "playing" with him. Apparently he likes it because he is chatting back at her.

Tummy Time

Yay! Tummy Time!

He can lift his head up a little but he's also trying to stand? He's normally a happy baby but yesterday he refused to take a nap and he was getting on everybody's nerves. He's still sleeping now though. He got up at 6:30 to eat and then went back to sleep which worked out nicely since then I had time to get Hayden up and ready for the bus.

Sleepy

The baby is still sleeping. It must be hard work making sure Mommy wakes up every couple of hours during the night. I don't know what was wrong with him last night but he'd better sleep better tonight!

My Favorite Hobby

Sleeping is so much nicer when you're snuggled up to someone. This is me at 1 month.