Move to own bed

About 4-6 weeks ago, we moved Alex to his own bed. It was after a particularly difficult night of moving, kicking, squirming, milk-drinking, that I decided it was time to make this big change. I was tired and I was just plain tired of being tired.

My Mom had suggested that he start taking naps in his own room (instead of our bedroom, our bed)and we had been doing that for a long while - so he was used to his own bed and his own room. Genius! What a fabulous idea - one that I'm glad I have my Mom here to be able to give me this sort of advice! And, I think this piece of advice laid the ground work for things going so easily.

The first night was a little rough and we were up 4-5 times comforting him back to sleep. But, the second night was only 2-3 and the third night only 1-2. It has gone so much easier than I ever imagined!

Last night, for instance....

He started looking sleepy around 8PM so we took a bottle up to his room, changed his diapers, put him in his pjs and closed the door. We have the window blocked off so it's very dark in his bedroom and the twin mattress is laying right on the floor (he has rolled off a couple of times, but luckily it's only inches to the floor). We lay down together - Alex and Mama or Daddy (but not both) - and he drinks his bottle. Daddy is really good at reading books, so sometimes they do this. Then it's lights out and he has been pretty good about falling asleep in about 15 minutes or so. He sometimes just lays there or puts his arms under the pillow or tosses and turns until comfortable.

He woke up around 11PM and just needed to be comforted back to sleep. He sometimes just stirs and makes cries out - but, we've realized he's not awake all the time when doing this. So, we let him really cry out to let us know he needs us or sometimes he just gets out of bed and walks into our bedroom and lets us know. He walked into our room and I got up and laid back down with him for 5 minutes and he was sound asleep until 5AM. He came into our room again and had a bottle of milk (usually has a bottle around 2AM, but we're not going to complain about the extra sleep!) and we slept we slept with him all together in our bed until we woke him up around 6:30 to go to daycare.

It makes those times we do get to sleep together again much more special.

At first, both Lance and I felt like we were ready, but the instant he was gone - we felt like something was missing. We were very ambivalent and didn't know if we made the right decision. We missed him and wondered what he was thinking. Yet - we were very tired and we knew that we made the right decision.

Overall, it has been good. We slept with our baby because that was what I felt was the right decision for me on the first night we brought him home from the hospital and it was right for a very long time. Now at 15 months - he is sleeping in his own bed, own room and it is working out nicely for all involved.

My life in six words

A friend and preemie Mom, Claire Bear, tagged me with one of those internet memes. This particular one is about naming your autobiography:

1). Write the title to your own memoir using six words.
2). Post it on your blog.
3). Link to the person that tagged you.
4). Tag five more blogs.

Well - here is my ideas for titles:

"Mama to a seriously active boy"
or
"Almost 31, and lovin' every second"
or
"Fit 25 hours in one day?"


I don't have other blogs to Tag - but, I will call out a couple of people and see what they would write in my comments to this blog post...

Steve
Connie
Becky
Sandy
Dave
Julie

Have fun!

It was definately fun for me to think about what would be my title - I thought for a couple of days and when something popped into my head I had to write it down. I had to explore what I wanted the title to say about me and what was happening to me lately. Only 6 words is difficult! It is very difficult to think about your whole life - so, it's much easier to think about what is currently happening for you.

I can't wait to hear all your titles!

Weekend update

Daddy and the most wonderful baby on the planet (with medal to show it!) at a Triathlon on Saturday. Daddy did very well - but, wants more time to train (and sleep!). Alex denies these requests, as usual. But, we are hatching a plan to meet at a Park right on Lake Sammamish to give Lance some extra swimming practice.

Alex running in the driveway. He runs a lot, too! We have seen little kid triathlons where the "swim" for 5o yards, then bike for ~1/2 mile, then run ~1/4 mile. It's so cute - and we were imagining this at Lance's Triathlon.

At a neighbors house, Alex climbs up the structure, then....

Slides down!

Head first - no less!

Updated 15 mo stats

Height: 32 1/4" (85%)
Weight: 24 lbs 4 oz (45%)
Head: 18 3/4" (62%)

What a big boy!

Also, we found out he has an ear infection. We had no idea - since he's been fine and hasn't shown any of the classic symptoms. The only symptom was that he hasn't been sleeping well at daycare or at home. It was actually daycare that suggested I ask the Dr. since they haven't seen a kid sleep like this for so long.

But, we thought it was teething (since he is getting his molars) and we thought that it was because we have transitioned him to his own room/bed at night. Unfortunately for him, it was an ear infection (most likely) and has probably had it for ~1-2 months. So, now he is on antibiotics for the next 10 days. On the plus side, this helps us think that the sleeping situation at home will get better. And will help both Lance and I get more sleep - which we need.

Here is to sleeping better soon!

playground fun

What more do I need to say? Fun Fun Fun

Hunt for Geoduck

We went to the beach for the extremely low tide last Wednesday. It was a -4.3 tide in the South Sound near Gig Harbor and was plently low to hunt the desired geo-duck.

For those of you unfamiliar with what a geoduck is here is the description:

The geoduck (pronounced "gooey duck"), Panopea abrupta, is a species of large saltwater clam, a marine bivalve mollusk. The shell of this clam is large, about 15 to over 20 cm in length (about 7 to 9 inches), but the long siphons make the clam itself much longer; the "neck" or siphons alone can be one meter in length. Native to the Pacific Coast of the United States and Canada (primarily Washington, British Columbia, and Southeast Alaska), it is the largest burrowing clam in the world, weighing in at an average of one to three pounds (0.5 - 1.5 kg) at maturity, but specimens weighing over 15 pounds (7.5 kg) and as much as 2 meters (6 ft) in length are not unheard of. It has a life expectancy of about 146 years, with the oldest recorded at over 160 years.

Well - Lance dug about 7 of them. We are only keeping one for ourselves, the rest go to Lance's Mom.

We sure had fun on the beach. It was actually nice that day (not raining and not bitterly cold for June!) and Alex was all set in his beach shoes, swim shorts, UV shirt, hat and jacket. As you can see below - he was having quite fun in the water and playing with the sand.

He loved picking up the sand and throwing it or giving it to me in my hand. Taking it back and throwing it!

He sure looks cute walking around the beach, too.

And then the finale' - Alex and his geoduck! What a duck it is! Actually, he wasn't as thrilled as we were about his first goeduck hunt (as you can tell!), but we did have to snap a few photos just to be able to show him when he's all grown up.

Not long after this picture was taken - he was done.

DONE.

I think he was frozen in one place becuase he was so cold - he didn't even cry or get fussy - he just was still and for those of you who know him - you know how odd this is. I had to take him back up to the car and change all his clothes and it took about 1 hour to get him back to his normal moving self again. We sat on the beach on the warm rocks and played there while Daddy dug the other 6 ducks.

Alex with Rock

They sure love playin' ball together.

Buddha

Alex loves Buddha. L.O.V.E.S.

We have this wonderful hand-carved Buddha head mask carved of one piece of wood that my Dad gave me for Christmas hanging in our dining room.

He points his finger and says "Ba" and that means he wants to go to see Buddha. We pick him up and he points to the nose. Then, points out Mama's or Daddy's nose. Then - eyes, ears and head. Then he touches his head. He is learning so many different words and we repeat them to him a lot. We ask "where is your ears?" and he sometimes points right to them. He gets nose and ears mixed up, but always gets head, bellybutton and toes right. We actually think he is getting downright obsessive. Sometimes we just have to put the Buddha away.

This makes me thing about religion - or lack there of - for us. Neither of us were "raised" with any religion. In fact - I would call us without religion. Yes - we celebrate Christmas, etc but in a very secular way. It's more about the traditions and family getting together. I have some friends that are Jewish and I love hearing about their traditions and rituals.

What I would like for Alex is to get pieces of different religions in a secular or non-secular way for him to understand the people of the world in a holistic way - as much as any kid can.

I guess this is just the beginning. Someday we can talk to him about what Buddha and Buddhism means for millions of people around the world. And remember back to when he was obessed with Buddha.