July-August 2010

It's already August and I for one could not be happier to see the summer coming to the end.  This weather being in the 100's on an average day and 90's on a "cool" day is getting to me pretty bad.  You know when they say "but it's a dry heat"?  My thoughts on that - it doesn't make it any better - it's still freakin hot!  Kind of like walking into a sauna vs a steam room!  I think I'm getting old and just hate heat.  LOL  Maybe in a few years when we can go to pools and stuff I'll be more interested.  For now I want my a/c to work properly (it can't keep up with the heat) and fall to get here so I can go outside without going EWWWW!  LOL  OK - done complaining - onto my wonderful family!  :-)

<----4th of July

July was a pretty busy month.  Nick was in WLC from June 21st - July 12th.  That is Warrior Leader Course which is the first NCO class you take.  I believe they're trying to corporalize him (no pay change - but it's a promotion...he would be the lowest rank of NCO at that point).  If he had more time in service they'd be sending him to the promotion board for E5!  That'd be awesome but not going to happen yet.  We're getting his OCS (Officer Candidate School) packet put together and we hope that will go through and he'll get selected right away.  Just this past June they've made the requirements a lot tougher for enlisted soldiers to get selected for OCS (he meets all the requirements thank goodness) and they've lowered the number of enlisted soldiers they are taking for OCS.  SO crossing our fingers he gets selected right away.  The next board isn't until January so we'll be waiting awhile to find out.  That just means he'll be with us longer and maybe - just maybe he'll be here for all the birthdays this year!  He did great at WLC and was on the Commandant's list.  He was 2/10ths of a point from getting the top score which he was of course quite upset about.  I'm pretty darn proud of him!  :-)

<----Nate doing some of his crazy parkour up in Omaha

My oldest, Nate, stayed with my Dad in Omaha during July to take a little summer break and see his friends.  He heads back to Kansas tomorrow to finish up school and get that high school diploma!  I'm hoping to hear some news on him joining the Navy as well.  I really worry about him and what he's going to do.

<--after yummy double chocolate mousse<---riding too small "bike"

Walker and Jocelyn just turned 20 months.  They are getting so old!  This second year has gone by faster than the first I think!  They are both talking more and trying to sound out words and repeat what we say.  Walker is harder to understand than Jocelyn but we know each child matures at different rates.  Jocelyn is doing very good at saying thank you.  Working on sounding out please now.  It really is so amazing listening to them really start to form words and sentences.  They are doing better on the one nap a day.  It's pretty much evened out to about 2 1/2 hours.  We did push their bedtime closer to 7pm (was 7:30) and that seems to work well.  Most nights they are literally crawling into their cribs ready for bed.  Thank goodness they have not started crawling OUT of them!!  :-)  We're not quite ready for toddler beds yet (ok I'm not!) so as long as they are not crawling out we'll leave them happily in their cribs.  They're doing pretty good eating nowadays.  They eat pretty much anything (haven't done obvious choking hazards of course).  Their new favorite is Apple "fries".  We got them a happy meal at McDonalds once and Nick got them the apple fries.  I was all freaked out thinking they could choke on them since they weren't cooked but NOPE they were just fine.  I'm a little bit of a worrier.  ;-)  SO now I peel apples and cut them into fries for them and they love it!  They are good little helpers.  Jocelyn is hands down my little momma's helper though.  She goes and gets things for me, throws diapers away, makes sure Ryder has his blanket or his favorite toy, and if he's crying before I can get to him she goes and tries to comfort him and tell him Momma's coming.  Walker and Ryder already have a special brotherly bond.  Walker just can't hug and kiss him enough and Ryder just smiles and laughs.  I'm getting after Walker for pretty much laying on Ryder when he's hugging him and Ryder just smiles like crazy.  LOL  It's awesome.  The twins are very big on Daddy coming home now.  When he gets home from work they'll go run up to him for hugs and say DADDY!  I love seeing that and I'm sure Nick loves getting all that love.  We go outside in the mornings and I'm trying to teach them how to play T-Ball.  They kind of get it but it's definitely a work in progress.  LOL  Half the time they are running after the balls I throw for Chance.  :-)

<--first time eating solids!

Ryder is such a happy little boy.  He is just a pleasure to have around.  He's always smiling and laughing.  He loves his brother and sister so much.  He follows them around with his eyes and I bet he can't wait to be chasing them around the house.  We do a lot of tummy time together and read books together.  They all 3 are playing very nicely together and I hope that continues!  Ryder turned 4 months old this past Tuesday.  Time just flies.  He does seem older sometimes because of how big he is and I have to remind myself that no he's not supposed to be sitting up and crawling yet.  LOL  He's wearing clothes that Walker did when he was doing those things.  Of course Walker was 7 months old at that point!!  Ryder is a big boy!  Not in the chunky kind of way although he's a bit chunky.  LOL  In a cute baby way.  He's pretty proportional.  At his 4 month appointment on Wednesday he was 16.9 lbs and 26.38 inches long.  The DR said that puts him in the 97th percentile!  WOW!  We were also given the all clear to start solids!  Very exciting!  We tried Rice cereal this morning and he did fantastic.  He seemed to take to it right away so I guess he was ready!  :-)  He's rolled over twice each way and hasn't done it since.  Apparently he's like the twins and decided he's done it, it's not that exciting, he'll wait for the next thing.  LOL  I'm sure he'll start doing it again soon.  He has fun in the exersaucer, jumperoo, and bumbo though.  He's really started playing with toys lately and he's decided his hands are the coolest things ever!

It's going to be an eventful month for this little guy.  I've decided to wean him from breastfeeding by the end of the month.  We're going to do it very slowly to hopefully reduce pain on my part and make sure he's happy.  My milk supply is already decreasing quite a bit and I'm honestly just not interested in trying harder to increase.  I love breastfeeding and the bonding experience when they are tiny but it seems like with my other 3 things got easier and more predictable when we moved to formula.  Nate was 3 months and the twins were 6 months.  Ryder will be almost 5 months when I plan on being completely done.  I feel good about being able to breastfeed them as long as I have and I know they have gained many benefits by me doing it as long as I have.  I'm just not gung ho on breastfeeding (for me personally) I guess and I am kind of ready to have my body back to myself.  LOL  I've been pregnant or breastfeeding for pretty much 4 years now (2007 - pregnant for 10 weeks and miscarriage, 2008 - pregnant for almost the whole year, 2009 - breastfeeding first half of the year and pregnant the second half, 2010 - pregnant and breastfeeding).  I am truly thankful for all that I have been given and feel so blessed but I'm kind of ready to get back to feeling like "me" physically.  OK - so I must have a little guilt about quitting since I'm sitting here rationalizing.  LOL  Anyway - the next big event in my littlest son's life will be the big move to the crib.  I swore up and down I wouldn't have sleeping problems with this child after all I went through with the twins.  I think sleeping problems and me just go together.  LOL  He did really good laying down and even falling asleep on his own when he was little but the twins would somehow always wake him up.  Eventually I was getting frustrated and just let him take his naps on me so he could get some sleep.  Silly me.  LOL  I can honestly say I can and have done almost anything with one hand while holding the baby in the other.  Well first off he is a BIG baby and he's just getting too heavy.  Second he is starting to get less sleep quantity wise and quality and it's starting to show.  It's time for a bed kiddo!  I pretty much was a sucker from the beginning at night and let him co-sleep after starting him in his pack and play.  The last month he won't even go in his pack and play.  The only way he'll go to sleep and stay asleep is if I hold him or lay right next to him.  I am so the creator of sleeping monsters!  I re-read Healthy Sleep Habits Happy Child and read The No-Cry Sleep Solution.  Between those I've made a plan I think will work for us without too much trauma.  I decided that in some ways I wasn't really ready to let go of the little baby stage yet and until I was there was no point in beating my head against a wall trying to make changes.  I just wasn't 100 % ready to put in the effort needed to make those changes.  For some reason the last week has been a turning point for me.  I don't know if it's that I think of "little" baby as 3 months and under or what.  LOL  Who knows what goes on in my crazy subconsciousness!  ;-)  BUT I have decided the time has come and we started today with both the weaning process as well as the sleep changes.  Like I said I'm doing both very slowly.  I'm hoping that will be the right choice for both of us.  If any of you are curious here is my plan:  For the Weaning:  Upon advice from his pediatrician I'm going to give a bottle before each feeding session and increase the amount of formula at each session.  I've decided to go an ounce at a time and keep it the same for 2-3 days.  So for instance today before each breastfeeding session I give him 1 ounce of formula.  On Sunday I will up to 2 oz of formula.  I'm also trying to stretch him out to 3 hours between feeding  (will work to 4 eventually).  Since my supply has gotten lower he's been eating very frequently lately.  The theory is that his demand for breastmilk will go down since he'll be getting the formula first.  Then when he breastfeeds he'll keep me from getting too engorged but not demand much so my supply will naturally and slowly decrease.  Crossing my fingers it works and saves me on some painful engorgement!  As for the sleeping - first off I'm trying to put him in his crib for every nap.  The first nap this morning went fantastic.  Once I convinced the twins to stay the heck out of his room while I was putting him down and that it was QUIET time - I let him watch his mobile for a few minutes in his crib with a Rain sound on.  (I got him a sound machine...our CD players keep breaking because apparently I use the repeat button too much  LOL hopefully he will do ok with it).  He started crying after about 10 minutes and I went in and picked him up, bounced him a bit and hummed and he fell right to sleep.  I layed him down, he fussed for 10 seconds and went back out (he's NEVER been that easy!).  I did continue to hum the same tune softly the whole time.  He only slept 30 minutes but hey that is 30 minutes!!  I was lucky to get past 1 minute in the past!  I've been working on his 2nd nap for well over an hour now.  Not going so well.  He is fighting to stay awake.  I think he's on to my plan!  He's in his crib now kicking around happily.  Come on kiddo - SLEEP already!  LOL  My plan is to give him 3 naps and get him to bed for the night at around 7:30pm (after the twins go to bed).  As for the night sleeping - here is where the slow part comes in.  I'm HOPING things will click and all will go well and I don't have to use this plan.  BUT to save me some sleep (because nobody wants a grumpy mommy with 3 children under 2 screaming at you all day) I've decided to make a chart and follow it.  Basically tonight I will keep putting him back into his crib until 10:30pm.  After that I'll bring him to bed with me.  Tomorrow night will be 11pm.  I'm moving it 30 minutes each night until we get to 6 - 6:30am.  Probably the slow and painful way but the whole reason I did co-sleeping to begin with was to get more sleep and I'm just not excited to give it up.  The children really NEED me to get as much sleep as I can.  LOL  SO that is the plan and by the end of August Ryder should be fully weaned and sleeping in his crib 100% of the time.  WISH ME LUCK!!  LOL  I know I do it to myself.  Apparently I just like to try and figure out ways to make my life more difficult.  ;-)

<--Me and my lil guy

As for me (besides all that I wrote above), I've decided to lose all this weight I've gained the past 4 years.  I lost all the weight I put on with my pregnancy with Ryder and now I'm on to the twin pregnancy/miscarriage/infertility weight.  I'm in hopes of getting back down to the weight I was when I met Nick which meant losing 37 lbs.  I started using Dietpower on July 18th.  So far I have already lost 9.5 lbs!  It's great motivation to keep going.  It's not a strict diet if you don't want it to be.  I don't have to eat certain foods if I don't want to.  I just log my weight, all my food, and exercise (ummm yea no exercise right now) and Dietpower tells me how many calories, etc.. I get for the day.  It learns my metabolism - which will change when I am done breastfeeding.  In any case my goal date is Dec 1st so hoping it all works!  :-)  Also since we have to think about birth control now I decided to go with the Mirena.  It is awesome.  I never thought I'd have to worry about birth control but since I apparently do I just gotta say I love it.  We're fairly certain we're done having babies but we're not ready to make it permanent.

All in all, everyone is doing great, kids are growing like weeds, and we're very thankful for all that we have.  Here's hoping August goes well and my "plans" come together easily.  :-)

Click here for July Pictures
Click Here for Ryder's 4 Week "Portraits"

PS - I downloaded Skype so if there is anyone who wants to see the kiddos or whatever let me know and we can set up a Skype "date"  :-)