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| My Crazy Life :-) |
Wow! Here it is the end of October and the last time I updated this blog was in August!!! Apparently it really has been very busy!! LOL I’ll try to do a quick summary of the last 3 months. :-)
Well August didn’t turn out to be such an eventful month for Ryder. He had a cold almost the entire month and I just couldn’t do the sleep training when he was sick. I also kept breastfeeding him for pretty much the same reason. Honestly I don’t think either of us were ready for changes yet anyway. We did start to transition to formula feeding more towards the end of the month and we attempted the crib for naps but really didn’t make much progress.
I started taking my Early Childhood Parenting classes at ACS on August 16th and it was a nice little break for me. It was 7 weeks of classes – every Monday for 2 hours and I got free daycare during that time. The kids had fun at daycare and it was nice to see real people. I’ll probably take classes here and there but towards the end it got to be more work than enjoyment so I’ll do one day classes here and there. LOL I did get VERY good at getting the kids in and out of daycare by myself! That boosted my confidence a little! :-)
The twins turned 21 months old and they started talking a little bit more. Jocelyn more than Walker but they were actually starting to say words we could understand!!
It actually started cooling down a little bit in September (for here!). We were finally in the 90’s! Woo hoo! LOL Nick started an EMT class for work and we actually got to see a lot more of him since it was near the hospital (a lot closer to home than his unit).
Ryder turned 5 months old on the 3rd and weighed in at 18 ½ lbs and 27 inches. Such a big guy! He started eating all his veggies and fruits and also drinking from a cup. He also started taking his baths in a bath seat in the big bathtub since he was sitting up better. He LOVED that! I decided to get serious on this sleep training business because he was getting pretty cranky and that is just not him. He needed some good quality sleep and I was getting exhausted from holding him during naps. I decided to get Richard Ferber’s book, Solve Your Child’s Sleep Problems. I was always afraid to turn to Ferber after hearing he was the Cry It Out guy but after reading reviews on Amazon I decided to try it. A lot of attachment parenting parents said what a great book it was and it wasn’t harsh at all. SO I went for it. I read it cover to cover, made a plan, printed off a sleep chart and we got started with it on Sept. 21st. The first few nights went amazingly smooth. He hardly cried at all and was sleeping in his crib for naps and bedtime from that night on. The next few weeks were hard here and there but overall it was worth it and I was very happy with the process. The idea out of the book I used was progressive waiting. I started with 1,3,5 minutes (the book suggests 3,5,10 but I couldn’t do it LOL). We went a little longer each night but he usually fell asleep within a few minutes. We also finished breastfeeding. Our final day of nursing was September 29th. It was a little bittersweet since we’re pretty sure Ryder will be our last baby but I think we were both ready for it. He was getting more active and I just was to the point where I wanted to feel like me again.
Walker and Jocelyn turned 22 months and honestly I feel horrible but I can’t remember what they were doing other than playing, coloring, going to daycare on Mondays and starting to get into the terrible 2’s. LOL I’ll write more about them in October. LOL
The big news for September (other than Ryder finally sleeping in his crib! LOL) was we got a puppy! We’ve been going through a hard time with Chance (our Lab). He had been really sick, not eating, gotten down to 50 lbs (he’s normally 80-90). He was just miserable. After a vet visit and x-rays they were pretty sure he has cancer. Unfortunately we do not have the money to do surgery to find out or to spend thousands of dollars on chemo so we decided to do whatever we could to get him eating, give him the best quality of life we could, and keep an eye on him. We both decided if he was absolutely miserable we would not make him suffer. After a lot of thought and a little impulsiveness we decided to get a puppy. I can’t say it was the right time because good gracious, who in their right mind with 3 babies decides to get a puppy on top of all that!!??? LOL BUT there wasn’t going to be a better time for our situation. I wanted a dog to feel safe in this place when Nick isn’t here and I don’t have the time or energy to really train a dog so I needed Nick here during that part. We’re hoping and praying that he’ll get selected for OCS the first time around and off to do that soon but if it’s not right away then…. We found out that his unit has turned into a Training unit. Which is good and bad. Good – he will not be deploying anytime soon. Bad – he will be gone a LOT – for weeks at a time out in the field and I will be on my own with none of the benefits of a deployment (extra pay for family separation, combat pay, 20 hours of free daycare a month!, reduced daycare cost after that). SO when he is gone for more than 1-2 weeks at a time I’m going to have to spend more money at the daycare so I can go grocery shopping and just try to shop 2 weeks at a time because we don’t really have the $ for that but I just cannot fathom taking all 3 of them to the grocery store! SO – back to the topic – we got Bailey. She is a Great Dane (anyone who knows us should know we couldn’t just get a small dog LOL). She was born on Nick’s birthday and it just seemed like fate telling us to go with her. LOL Or impulsiveness with an excuse. ;-) Whichever you prefer to believe. :-) She was 11 weeks old when we got her (Labor Day weekend) and she was already a big puppy. LOL Amazingly she was pretty much housebroke right away and besides being a little rambunctious at times (normal for a puppy!) she is a really really good dog. I’m sure as she gets older and calms down some she will be fantastic. The kids were really annoyed with her for the first several weeks but they are finally starting to enjoy her more since she doesn’t try to steal their toys as much. LOL
October
Ahhh, October. The month it finally cooled down!! For most of the month we were in the 80’s and it was lovely. Then we got a 70’s day here and there and I WANTED it! LOL I LOVE the 70’s. I think I’ll like El Paso a lot more in the 60’s and 70’s.
Nick finished up his EMT course and did fantastic! I’m not positive but I think he finished top of his class and he passed his National Certification test. I’m very proud of him. He’s still not really into medical but like everything else, he excelled at it. Yay honey! We got a visitor this month too! Nick’s brother, Chris decided to spend his vacation with us and we are so glad he did! We had a fantastic time and the kids loved him to pieces. He was worried about the kids taking to him but they did right away. Ok – well he had to buy Jocelyn Burger King to win her heart but that worked. LOL While he was here, we celebrated our 5th wedding anniversary. He offered to watch the kids so we could have a nice date out but we decided to all go out to dinner together. It was so nice and the kids did great. We don’t go out much so we weren’t sure what to expect. They had excellent table manners and didn’t throw a tantrum once. Yay kids!! LOL
I am doing great on my diet that I started back in July. I have lost 26 pounds since I started it on July 18th. I have 11 pounds to go to reach my goal! I am VERY VERY excited about that. If only I could figure out how to get rid of this extra skin on my belly! LOL I think I may have that muscle separation on my abdominal muscles so I need to figure out how to work on that one. Google here I come! I also decided to get really crazy and take on my own business! I am now an independent consultant for Scentsy. I absolutely love their products and thought it would be fun to sell it as well. Hopefully all will go well ! Take a look at my website: http://www.wyant.scentsy.us/ . I’m planning on doing the majority of my business over the internet until the kids are a little older but I am able to do basket parties long distance so let me know if you would like to do one and if you’re interested in purchasing any of the products you can click on the Buy tab and purchase it right from my website. :-) Ok that is my sales pitch for the day. LOL It is fantastic though. The biggest reason I first bought it was the safety factor (no flame…the wax is warmed by a light bulb). The wax also doesn’t get any warmer than a paraffin wax you would get with a manicure! SO even if it does get spilled the kids or dogs won’t get burned. Not to mention the scents are amazing and the warmers are beautiful. Ok I said I was done didn’t I? ;-)
Walker and Jocelyn are growing up SO fast! I cannot believe they are going to be 2 years old next month! It doesn’t seem that long ago that we were going through IVF trying to get them here. The last 2 years have flown by. It’s kind of like I’ve been busy or something!? :-) They pretty much alternate from yelling, fighting, and throwing tantrums to being amazingly adorable. LOL Pretty normal for this age I do believe. We have introduced Play-Doh to them and they think that is pretty cool with cookie cutters. We of course had to explain it is not food. LOL Walker’s favorite thing to do right now is dress himself. His big thing now is socks! He constantly wants to put on socks. It’s hilarious. He has gotten that pretty much down and he also can put his shoes on by himself – and on the right feet most of the time! He likes trying to put pants on as well. Sometimes he puts shirts on as pants – whatever. LOL It’s cute. He still LOVES to cuddle. We’ve discovered during his (frequent) temper tantrums that if we get down to his level and give him a hug he calms down and he’s able to (kind of) explain what he wants. He’s slowly starting to say more words that we understand and I think that’s helping both him and us. He gets frustrated quite easily so I think talking will help him tremendously! Jocelyn is our independent little girl. You can usually find her in her room reading books, watching TV (her new favorite thing…grrr), or playing quietly with her toys. She’s starting to enjoy dolls more. Oh and her big thing is “talking” on her cell phone while sweeping or tending to her dolls. I think she watches me a lot. LOL Oh well – teach her to multi-task while she’s young. ;-) She’s doing great talking and saying more words we can actually understand more and more. They are really wanting to be big kids now and it’s kind of nice. They like to use “big people” forks and spoons and it’s actually working a little better. We’ve also started introducing the potty. Oh boy! Add another thing on my To Do list. ;-) This week they’ve started sitting on it without a diaper and trying to go but so far nothing has happened yet. We need more opportunities on the potty so I can get all excited about pee pee in the potty. :-) The thought of only 1 child in diapers sounds amazing money wise!!!! They also got a new swingset!! They love it and the weather is perfect now. They're doing really great on the big kid swings and love the slide! :-)
Ryder is making amazing strides this month in development. He turned 6 months old on the 3rd and was 19.31 lbs and 27.17 inches at his DR appointment. He hadn’t been eating well for the 2 days before that so I’m thinking he was closer to 20 lbs. He’s definitely got to be at least 20 lbs now! He is a big guy! He’s wearing the outfits that Walker wore when he was almost a year old. He wears 12 months now and wears some 18 month pajamas! He’s going to be in 2T before Walker and Jocelyn are out of it! He is doing fantastic in his crib and we’re making really good progress in his sleep routine. He takes 2-3 naps a day. Two if they’re nice and long and 3 if the 2nd one is short. He usually goes to bed around 7:30pm and lately he’s been sleeping almost all night. Last night he went to bed at 7:30pm and didn’t wake for a bottle until 5am! How awesome is that! I’m pretty excited. Then he woke up about 6:30am for the day. I’m not looking forward to the time change at all but I suppose I need to start planning that and moving the kids sleeping times slowly. :-( Ryder has started “army crawling” to get around and is getting really fast!! I’m waiting to trip over him in the kitchen one of these days when I leave him in the living room! LOL He is also sitting very well on his own. He still wobbles a bit so if I’m not right there I put the Boppy around him but for the most part he’s really getting it! His favorite thing to do is to get stuck under things backwards. LOL I don’t know how he does it but I’ve had to pull him out from under the coffee table and the pack and play (which has pretty much become a toy box LOL). He’s a little character. Still all smiles and loves his sister and brother like crazy. He loves to give hugs! Oh and when he’s hungry if you are holding him he tries to eat your face. LOL You might think he’s trying to give you a kiss – but no – he’s hungry and he’s trying to eat you. LOL
UPDATE (Oct 29th) - Ryder has his first tooth poking through!!!!
Nathan finally finished his high school studies and is awaiting his diploma! I’m very proud he got it done. Now he’s working with a Navy recruiter to go that route. Unfortunately the recruiter can’t do anything until he gets the diploma so we’re all anxious for that to come so we can find out what he’ll be doing and when he’ll ship out. I’m very proud of him for wanting to join the military. I think he’ll do great in the Navy and it will help him get a great start on his adult life. He’ll be down here for a visit next month and I can’t wait to see him and see his reaction on how big the kids are. He’ll have been gone for 5 ½ months by the time he gets here.
This coming weekend is Halloween and we’re very excited that Nick is here with us this year! Walker is a fireman, Jocelyn is Little Red Riding Hood, and Ryder is McDreamy as Chief of Staff (Grey’s Anatomy). LOL If it’s chilly for trick or treating we might make him a dragon (Walker’s costume last year). It is pretty warm and I didn’t know if he’d overheat in it here. We carved pumpkins last weekend after the Fall Festival on Post and the kids didn’t really understand what we were doing but thought it was fun that they lit up. I’m excited to see their reaction to trick or treating!
I suppose that is about it for now. I will truly try not to let 3 months go before updating again! I realized how far behind I was on pictures for Snapfish as well! I will try and designate at least one day a month to uploading and updating blog! LOL SO – to catch you up on the pictures….here ya go :-)
Click on the Titles to go to the pictures :-)
Ryder's 6 Month Portraits
October 2010
Hope you enjoyed and I'll try to do a better job keeping the updates regular!!! :-)
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