Pictures from this weekend

Every once in awhile I have one of those days where it just feels like all of the pictures are coming out great and its too hard to choose. This is about as 'narrowed down' as I could get. We had a really nice morning at the pumpkin patch. Here's the evidence :)

Natalie's sweater :)

I finally got her to model it for me. I think it came out beautiful but she refuses to wear it because "It's too hot!"

Patrick got motivated!

Saturday started like any other day..... But after lunch I plopped Patrick down on the floor and he sat there. All by himself. For about 10 minutes. The more times we did this the better he got...until he got tired. Anyway, he also decided that toys are cool and that sitting up gives you a lunging advantage when you want one. So, from a sitting position he will lunge forward into a complete face plant and then try to scootch toward the toy. Poor kid's got a decent amount of rug burn on his face. If he is your lap he will flop onto his belly or back and roll away.

Now...the really funny part... What does the boy want more than anything in the world? Our TV remote. Priceless!

24 hour project

The preschool/daycare decided to do "A Day in the Life" project and asked parents to take pictures to cover every hour of the day. Since the daycare serves a hospital, university and staff there's a good chance that lots of people actually are up, with their kids, at all hours. Very cool idea! I've cherry picked a few of my favorites from yesterday. Enjoy!

Lunch with Patrick!

Lovely girl!

Is there anything sweeter than a sleeping baby?

I love this picture of us. Nattie wanted to take a few and Jame obliged. I am always on the other side of the camera and am just so pleased to have gotten such a good picture of the two of us!

CONGRATULATIONS JAMES!

Saturday afternoon James completed all his required course work to complete his Associates degree. He says it still doesn't feel real but after 2 years of non-stop classes I suspect it will feel more real when he doesn't have a new class start today.

We gave him a card to thank and congratulate him for his hard work and accomplishment and treated him to a Sunday afternoon of snacking, baseball and football.

Natalie drew him a rainbow and Patrick didn't throw up on him at all :)

He has obviously born the brunt of this work but our family has sacrificed a lot to support him in this. So, while I would like to focus on his accomplishment I'd like to give us all a big group hug for being so absolutely fabulous together!

CIO(lite) updates

Night one went pretty well - I had a talk w/ P before bed and let him know that we were done w/ the nonsense. He woke up around 11 but only fussed and went back to sleep until his usual 3:30. At that point he was full on crying and I decided I was giving him 20 minutes. After 20 he was still crying so I went in to find poo. Cleaned him up, put him back in bed and didn't hear another peep until I woke him to eat at 5.

Night two - I think definitely successful and am feeling optimistic! He did not wake at all until 3:30 (big surprise) but only fussed and fell back to sleep on his own around the 15 minute mark.

I would like to say to all those reading that even better than the CIO(lite) success is the fact that I stayed in my bed from 9pm until 5am! I didn't get up to help Patrick. Natalie did not wake screaming from t-storms. The dog didn't go out. The cat didn't come in. Even my bladder got on board and didn't need an emergency pee. I think its been more than a year since I stayed in bed for 8 straight hours. Miracle!

and we're on to Night 3. We'll see how it goes!

Game On, Patrick!

Patrick is 5 months and 7 days old and has NEVER slept thru the night. In fact I don't think he's ever slept for more than 4.5 hours at a stretch. I'm cooked! Over the weekend he was up every 45ish minutes from midnight on...all three nights.

I'm done. Tonight Patrick will being learning how to self-soothe. If he can find and reinsert his binky then thats beautiful...if he can't he needs to figure out how to go back to sleep. Farting at 3am does not constitute screaming loud enough to bring Mommy into the room.

So, its CIO or bust. I'm going to set our video monitor up this evening and if he isn't wedged half out of his crib or covered in vomit he's going to have to work it out on his own...because Mommy is alone, tired and working full time...and enough is enough is enough is enough.

So there!