Category: People

The new routine

Over the past week Jess and I have been consistent with our routine, discipline, encouragement, and interactions with Lane. It took some getting use to on all of our parts, but things are finally starting to click. No longer is there kicking and screaming when going to bed. He doesn’t fight the sheer mention of going in bed. It’s still not perfect, and he still comes and gets in our bed at random hours of the night, but it’s light years ahead of what it was a week ago.

In addition to the nights getting easier, Lane’s mood in general this weekend has improved. Certainly he still has outbursts of either yelling or crying, but they seem to be getting fewer and fewer. I’ve also implemented a new timer system. Basically when I need him to do something I give him a heads up and we set a timer for when he needs to do that thing. For example, if I want him to go to bed at 8, we’ll set a timer for 10 minutes at 7:50. If I need him to wait 3 minutes for his oatmeal to cool down, a timer is set. He gets to push the start button and I tell him when he hears the timer go off it’s time to do X. So far it’s working great. He has actually requested the timer a few times. In the past time was an arbitrary number for him. Waiting 3 mins on his oatmeal was forever. Going to bed in 10 minutes might as well have been 2. Now he knows that I don’t mean right now, but in the future. And that yes, his oatmeal will be ready for him. It’s a great tool that seems to be working for now. And at this point, I’ll take it.

So things are looking up. We are making progress and every day is a new victory. This weekend was fantastic for many reasons. Went to White Water and to see our friends new baby. The house is clean and we’re all caught up on general chores. Should make for an easy start to next week. Chase went for his baseball skills assessment and was looking great on the field. Should be an exciting season. I’m looking forward to watching him play some fall ball. I’m also generally looking forward to some fall anything.

Stay tuned for more updates on this ever growing family! Jess is rocking the baby bump and I can’t wait to meet baby Jack in just over 2 months!

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And another thing

Lane has decided that anytime between midnight and 4:30am, it’s a good idea to come and get in bed with Jess and I. This has been going on for at least a week now. It was kinda cute at first, and it still is very endearing, but the nut check kicks are starting to lose their appeal.

I have no qualms about Lane sleeping in bed with us, especially since it’s a large bed. However when Jack gets here in November we will be nursing a baby and Lane will need to hang in his big boy bed. This may mean that one of resume our position bedside for a while.

So that’s that. More ongoing struggles with napping. Oh, and as of this week he’s moved up to a new room at school and now doesn’t want to go there either. So it’s a battle at night and a battle in the morning. Fun time!

But you know what, I wouldn’t trade it all for the world. This little boy and what ever he has going on in his brain are worth it to me. I love him more than I could have ever thought. He struggles just as I did when I was a kid I’m sure. His energy and smiles and spirit and bigger than life. When he’s sad or scared, I feel it too for him. I hate to see him not happy and I will do what ever I can to make sure that his transition from one season in life to the next is as easy as possible. My parents did it for me and he’ll do the same for his kids some day.

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The night time struggles continue

Last week I posted about the new night terrors. Well, things haven’t gotten much better. At first we tried forcing him to stay in the bed and we just dealt with the tantrums and crying. Now, we’ve resorted to sitting in the room with him again. Initially we didn’t want to do this as we figured it would lead to a dependency on us always being in there when he went to bed. On top of that, when we did stay in there it felt like an eternity. Of course this was back when he first transitioned into the toddler bed. Now that he’s gotten in his twin bed, the sitting doesn’t seem to last as long.

That’s not to say that night time isn’t a struggle, however. We have a routine that we are in each night that consists of washing his feet so we can apply the prescription medicine we have for the rash on his feet. Usually one of us will read a book while the other is applying the meds and some vaseline and then socks. For a few days this worked great and after the story, one of us would sit in the room with him and he’d be out in a matter of minutes. Now it seems that he is no longer content with going to bed…ever. Regardless of who is sitting in there, he wants to get up. Tonight it was “I need to poop.” I gave in and took him to the bathroom twice. It was at that point when I reached my niceness threshold and Jess jumped in. He did the whole tantrum thing, but eventually she was able to calm him down to the point where he would get back in bed. Tonight’s technique was to let him listen to some music while going to sleep. After the first attempt, I’m already sold! The kid was out! But then again it could have just been that he was tired. Here have a listen and let me know if this puts you right to sleep.

Still with me?! Good. Well this is what we’re going with for now. Maybe we’ll invest in a new sound machine or player of some sort. I’ll have to find out what they do at school to get him to sleep. After all, they have bears with glowing eyes that they are hunting, and he still manages to get a good nap.

Oh, and the rash on his feet… don’t get me started. It’s just nasty and I wouldn’t want that on my feet. Hopefully it’ll continue to clear up and we can nix the whole feet washing medicine portion of the night time fun.

The new night terrors

When Lane was younger, from about 6 months to around 2, he would have night terrors. I remember them vividly as they were to Jess and I about as terrifying as what ever dream or terror Lane had going on in his mind. They sucked. Real bad. Eventually he grew out of them and he hadn’t had one in about 6-8 months! That’s fantastic! However, we now have a new nighttime demon to battle. Sleep itself.

Ever since we got back from PCB we have not allowed Lane to have his pacifier. That thing was nasty and old and was hindering his breathing at night. It was just all around a bad thing. So we ‘gave it to the baby fish’ since Lane was now a big boy! For the most part he did fairly well without it. After all, he didn’t have it when he napped at school. So it only made sense to not have it at bedtime.

Well during this transition out of the paci, we also moved him up to his big big boy bed. He went from a toddler size bed to a twin bed. The thing is monstrous compared to his old bed. And it’s actually really comfortable! I slept in it for about 2 hours last night. So, I don’t know if it’s the bed or the darkness or what, but Lane refuses to go to bed in there now. Like he will scream at the top of his lungs and pitch the biggest tantrum ever, just to not be left in there alone.

Perhaps we moved him up too soon or maybe it’s something else. Either way, the past 1.5 weeks have been a nightmare when it comes to bed time. It’s a fight every singe night and a struggle I, nor Jess look forward to. It will get better and he will grow and learn to go to bed with out having a fit. But for now it’s a HUGE pain and one that I am eagerly ready to relieve soon.

Oh and to make matters worse, he has some sort of poison ivy or something on his feet that’s driving him nuts. Just another log on the fire. Again, it will heal and things will get better, just sucks when you’re in the thick of it. 20140729-222142-80502815.jpg

Oh, and the red glowy thing is a football light. It’s crazy how despite the night vision camera, that still glows red.

I no longer need an alarm

Lane has decided that regardless of the previous nights bedtime, he needs to get up some time between 5:15 and 5:45 on most days. Today he came and got us at 5:20. Though I am happy he is sleeping well in his big boy bed and no longer needs a diaper or pull-up, I do wish he would master the art of sleeping just a little bit later.

Honestly it really was fine when Jess was in school since I needed to be up that early to get the day going anyway. But now that summer is here and we have the luxury of taking our time in the morning, a little more sleepy time would be nice. Also, it is much easier to make coffee and breakfast and prepare a lunch to-go while not juggling a 2 year olds want need to “help” with everything.

Still it’s all good cause it means my little guy is growing up. He’s curious and playful and honestly he does do a good job of helping when you want him to. And helping us means that he’s still learning more things. How to stir eggs or where things are in the kitchen or problem solve are skills he’s picking up with ease.

So bring on the early mornings with Lane, cause they will soon be replaced with early mornings with T5. Then I’ll wonder where the time went.

The Big Picture

In the pendulum of blogging, I’m ready for the upswing. I love that we document our crazy lives, and I honestly don’t post for anyone other than my 5 or 10 or 20 years older self. I can’t wait to look back and read and gain even more perspective or make fun of how silly we were.

I’m feeling immensely happy today. I blame it on the weather (mostly). It is officially Spring time! March is the busiest month of the year for teachers (especially ones with a kid in sports and another who’s 2), but that vitamin D is something else. I literally feel it filling me up and pouring back out in the form of annoying happiness and introspective blog posts.

I also think the key to it all is figuring out what my “big picture” looks like. I spent so much of my life trying to wipe away the (self inflicted) cobwebs and clutter so I could get a glimpse of what my big picture was. On an given day the picture looked different, so I became frustrated and fickle and my actions reflected that. I think the simple answer is maturity (coupled with making the wrong choices for so long and finally learning from mistakes. Is that the definition of maturity though??). I never knew what I wanted because choosing what I wanted meant deciding what I didn’t want. And I didn’t want to miss out on anything. I realized for me, it’s simple. I want to be happy. I want a family. I want a job that allows me to feel fulfilled while helping financially and not stealing all my time or taking over my life. I want the cliche suburban life; kids in activities and vacations to the beach. I want family dinners and big holiday meals and a best friend to share it all with.

The best part? I have it. I have that exact big picture. Here’s the fine print though. I am not happy every single day. Some days I’m miserable. Some days I’m tired and sore and broke and frustrated with the politics of my job and have zero patience for my children and nothing seems right or good or settled. But on these inevitable days, I always have my “big picture” looming over my shoulder. It’s become my role model. It’s my bully. It’s the responsible parent I never had. It’s the light at the end of my dark days that tells me not to run away or shut down. And my dark days are so few and far between now. That big picture has become a part of me and here’s the kicker. The more I honor it, the bigger and brighter it gets.

It doesn’t mean I do every single thing I want, but it means I do the things that I do, because I know what I want. It’s been a long time coming, and it feels amazing. Figure out your big picture, and fiercely follow it. You’ll see what I mean.

Lane’s first day of school! EEK!

Our little boy's all grown up!
Our little boy’s all grown up!

It seems like only yesterday we were teaching this little guy to roll over. Then we blinked and he was walking. Now he’s climbing on top of the tables, saying words, swimming (sort of), and in school! Wait… what? He’s in school?! Yep, we dropped off our little baby for his first day of “big boy school” today! Whoa! Its so very hard to believe that its been 18 months already. He seems so little, yet so very big! Time has flown by and our wings have ever expanded to support Jr. BLT, but its time for him to branch out and start the next chapter of his life.

As big of a day as it was for us, I can only imagine how big it was/is for him. We’ve been through a million changes. New jobs, new houses, relationships, experiences, etc., we’ve been through a lot. He’s just a little guy and this is so very new to him. New friends, new people changing his diaper and watching him play on the playground. New toys, schedules, shoes, food, everything for him today (for the most part) is new.

Jess and I got him dropped of and, she may kill me for putting it out there, but she kinda lost it. I fully expected it though. I don’t think anyone would expect a mother so loving and devoted to her children to simply drop off her youngest child without shedding a tear. Eventually composure was gathered and off we went. She and I went about our days leaving our baby boy in the hands of teachers who will enrich the next several months of his life. Jess began a new chapter by spending the day with unfamiliar teachers and lesson planning sessions. She kept busy I’m sure, and I feel she’ll want to expand on her new chapter, but it was for the most part, run of the mill for both of us.

I called the school a few hours into the day to check on Lane and his teacher said that he was doing great! He had a good snack, played well with the other kids, and was generally having a good day. As heart breaking as it was for us to walk away, it didn’t take long for him to get acclimated to his new setting. I’m sure he knows we aren’t there, but he also knows that he’s having fun, and for BLT, he’s all about having fun.

Tonight, we’ll give him extra “lovies” and hold him just a bit tighter. Tomorrow, we’ll drop him off again and the tears won’t flow as much. We’ll fall into our new routine and he’ll have a new normal as well. This is our new chapter and I’m going to savor every moment of watching him learn.

Settling in nicely

So a few weeks ago, or what seems like a week ago I posted about a shittaculer week that we had. I mean literally it was an assplosion of epic proportions. Since then we’ve rebounded quite nicely and have managed to get everyone else around us sick! Well, maybe they got themselves sick, but either way it seems that everyone is now falling victim to the dreaded mud butt.

Enough about that… This December has FLOWN by. But I reckon that’s the way time usually goes. When your in the weeds things may seem to drag on and weeks never end and you have “the longest day ever” syndrome, but when you look back there’s always the sense of “where has this month gone?!” That’s the case with the past few weeks around here. And now, its two days before Christmas and it seems like just yesterday was Thanksgiving. That doesn’t mean we’ve not enjoyed ourselves this holiday season. It really has been a great month and we’ve adjusted well to living in the new house. It just seems like things are more accessible. For example, I’ve had two work holiday parties in the past few weeks and had we still lived in Hampton I would have most likely bailed on both of those. Now it seems like work or downtown is a short drive from here and hanging with co-workers for the holiday parties is doable.

And its not just getting to/from downtown, its everything else as well. I mean if we need to go to the grocery store, Starbucks, Target or to do some shopping out and about, its accessible. Its just very easy living where we do now. We even managed to host a Christmas/holiday party and have people show up! City folk that would have otherwise never ventured to our home had we not lived within close proximity to civilization.

So thats that. Its been a swift month and looking back, a crazy year. 2012 is coming to a close and we’re already planning far into 2013.