This kid…

Some kids go to sleep with a blankie or a stuffed animal. And though Lane has both of those, tonight he chose to go to bed with a book in his arms. Why? Cause on the cover is a silver sticker of a guy with glasses and a beard. Lane thinks it’s “daddy” so he wanted to sleep with the book tonight. My heart grew tenfold. This kid never ceases to amaze me.
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That’s just a small indicator of how today has gone. And we needed a day like today. This past weekend was hellacious. For what ever reason, Jess and I’s patience had just run out. Lane wouldn’t listen, he was an utter terror and we just we not the best mommy and daddy. He was frustrated and so were we. It really was just a matter of being frustrated and most likely tiredness catching up. So we went into Monday needing a break from Lane as much as he needed a break from us.

To our surprise, Monday went really well. Lane seemed eager to go to school and all was right a home. Tuesday (today) was even better! This morning went off with out a hitch, both Jess and I were very productive in our respective jobs, Jess had a great check-up at the doctor (only 10 more weeks until baby Jack!!), Chase came home in a great mood and did really well at baseball practice and Lane was suuuuper sweet. He even managed to have a picnic at the ball field with mommy and I while Chase did his baseball. It was such a treat to have us all together rather than divided up. I think doing so brought us closer together. Yeah we need our breaks, but they make the time together even better.

So that’s where we are at today! Lane went to bed with no problems and actually wanted to stay in bed. He has his daddy book and all is right in his world. That makes for a happy mommy, daddy and Chase. Our family is growing in more ways than one, every day and I’m in love with it. <

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.

PCB is sooooo PCB!

A truer statement could not be said about Panama City Beach. I was never one to come here as a kid, as my family didn’t really do the whole beach thing. That and when we did it was to Myrtle Beach or some beach near Orlando or something. I’ve always heard PCB referred to as the “Redneck Riviera”, but never really been witness to all it’s splendor. Well, now that I am finally here for the week, I can see why they call it that.

Now, I don’t mean to sound all snobby or took good for PCB, but there’s a certain level of people that I have come to expect from the beach trips I’ve been on. Jess and I have gone to places like Cape San Blas, St. George Island or other lesser known beaches and been privy to not only less people overall, but less… for lack of a better word “trashy” people. Now don’t get me wrong, there are actually a lot of people here that are perfectly normal folk, but there are 2-3 rednecks for every non-redneck at least. The good thing is, it makes for some fantastic people watching! There are all manner of people wandering around it varying amounts of clothing. Fun times all around!

So, with that being said, this place is a lot of fun. BLT HATES the beach so far, but it’s really only his first day. He’s been on a beach in the past but not enough to really enjoy it. I’m not a huge beach person, so he probably gets that from me. He’ll warm up to it eventually. Right now it’s a lot to take in. That and he doesn’t really like being dirty so the onslaught of sand is a lot for him. Chase and Jess are having a blast and doing their thing, so that makes me exceedingly happy. It’s only day 1 of 7 so its going to take some time to really find our daily routine/groove.

This place is sensory overload. Between the beach and pool during the day and the go-karts and put-put and “the strip” at night. Its just a lot to take in. Coming from a more quiet beach like St. George where after being there for 3 days we only saw like 10 people to a place like this is a huge leap. I love the time I get to spend with my family and wouldn’t change a thing. This will always be a trip that I remember and can’t wait to see what the next 6 days bring!

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.

Today I didn’t do “Murph”

While the rest of the CrossFit world did “Murph“, I spent the day not doing it. I really would have liked to do the WOD. I didn’t do it last year, mainly because I was no where near prepared and I was rather ‘green’ at the gym. This year I feel like I am at least prepared enough to make it through without dying. I may not do it with the weight vest, but I think I could manage the entire thing.

The one thing about Murph that would have really gotten me would be the pull-ups. I simply don’t have the proper kip down, and my overall upper body strength is not at a level that I can consistently do lots of reps of strict pull-ups. On top of that, my hands have some wicked blisters/calluses. For whatever reason, I can’t seem to keep my hands from tearing or bunching up to the point where it hurts to simply put them on a bar. I’ve tried all manner of things to no avail. I’ll get it one day. I mean, this time last year I wasn’t even able to do 1-2 pull-ups with out a band. Now, I can string together quite a few. And it’s my damn shoulders too! They just hurt and are sore and tense and still need a lot of work.

Any way, today I didn’t do Murph. There were a lot of factors that went into that. Instead, I spent time with my family at the pool and then with good friends hanging out enjoying the weather. It was a good day indeed!

There’s always that moment when you know things need to change

Over the past year I worked really hard at getting to my goal weight. I worked just as hard to stay at that weight. Through the holidays and parties and work trips and such, I was able to maintain my sub-200lb weight. Today the scale, which I have not been on in about a week, said 202.

I know I’ve not been steric with my diet or my fitness, but to lose something I worked so hard for really hit me made me realize that I need to reign things in.

This is my reminder post that I need to change things, again. No more eating what I want and thinking I can fitness my way out of it. No more rewards of alcohol just because I cut the grass on a hot day. I worked hard once and I reached my goal. I can will do it again.

I’ll post again in a month or so with where things stand.

Oh, and this is also my reminder post that I need to update the damn blog more. I plan on doing that too.