Weekend in Review

The weather has been extremely beautiful the past four days. I enjoyed taking the kids to the park each day. I also mowed the lawn on Saturday. Hopefully that extra exercise compensated for the extra calories I ate on Saturday night on our pumpkin picking adventure. I had pulled pork and corn bread for dinner and a carmel apple sundae for dessert. Nadia always hopes there will be kids at the park when we go, and thankfully there was at least one child there on Saturday and Sunday.

In terms of Ian's sleeping habits, his naps were terrific on Friday (both were more than an hour long), Saturday he had one long and one short, and today he had two short naps. I am really, really hoping that today was a fluke. Wednesday night was the best in terms of him sleeping through the night. Friday we let him fuss awhile when he woke up at 4:50, but he didn't fall back asleep so I got him at 5:30. Our pattern the last few nights has been that when he wakes up (often around 10pm), Paul just rocks him to sleep; he doesn't get any milk. We're hoping by not giving him any milk that he'll stop waking up around that time. Last night it took Paul 45 minutes to get him back to sleep. When he wakes up too early (4:50 yesterday and 4:00 this morning for example), we move him to the pack 'n play in our bathroom. Although he didn't fall back asleep on Friday morning, on both Saturday and Sunday morning he cried for less than 10 minutes and then slept in MUCH later. Yesterday he got up at 6:20, and this morning he got up at 6:35. YAHOO! Now if he could just avoid the 4:00 or 5:00 wake up in between becaues I usually can't get back to sleep.

Fall Fun

Nadia fed rabbits and goats. There were also chickens and a pig.

Driving a tractor!

Slides are fun!

The 6 of us took a hayride to the pumpkin patch.

Not Terrible Twos

I may be premature in saying this since she's only 2.25 years old, but in my opinion it's quite fun having a two year old. I think the hardest stage with her thus far was when Ian came home from the hospital. We had LOTS of temper tantrums when she was 17-18 months old as she adjusted to sharing her Mommy and Daddy with a sibling. I am not saying that her behavior is perfect all the time, but is that true at any age? There are times when she is stubborn (like she wouldn't eat peas for Daddy on Wednesday night when he fed her dinner), and there are times when she defies us, but the vast majority of the time she is a delight. Her memory amazes me. For example, a few days ago we were listening to a CD we hadn't listened to recently (and never had listened to that many times), and while one song was playing she came up to me and said "Keep Walking is next." At first I didn't know what she meant and then sure enough the next song started playing and the first words of that song are "Keep walking but you won't knock down our wall" (a VeggieTale song about Jericho). I was amazed, and I have a strong auditory memory! Paul has a strong visual memory (which I definitely do not have). We also discovered recently that she knows the name of the town we live in. She learned that on her own without us trying to teach her that bit of information. It blew me away the first time she told me. She pronounced our three syllable town perfectly. Now I'm trying to teach her that Grandma and PopPop live in Gordon because she thinks they live in our town also. Her vocabulary continues to surprise as at times. For example, this evening when I was busy with Ian Nadia went to Paul and said "Daddy will read to me instead." We didn't know she knew the word "instead."

The slide has a lot of static electricity!

In addition to amazing us, she also makes us smile. I will never ever ever get tired of hearing her say "I wove you." She says it spontaneously quite often these days. Sometimes she says "I wove you too" even if she's the first one to say it, lol. I also will never get tired of hearing her say "bank you, Mommy." About once a day she keeps thanking me for getting her Madame Blueberry. That was a well spent $3 let me tell you. It really pleases me that she is showing gratitude voluntarily more and more.  On Wednesday in the car she said "Larry is my best friend in the whole wide world." I am pretty sure I never considered a cucumber to be my best friend, although as a young child I did like eating them (which isn't true of Nadia).

9 Reasons to Rejoice!

1. Ian slept through the night last night for the first time in 4 weeks. YAHOO! I had told Paul he could put Ian down early if Ian was falling asleep sometime after 6:30, but since Ian slept for a few minutes on the ride home from Sarah's (around 5pm), he didn't go to bed until 7:45. He fussed a little at 4:45, but he fell back asleep on his own and didn't wake up again until 5:55! He slept for a little over 10 hours. YAY!!!! Paul started getting ready for work at 4:45 since he has to come home by 2:45 today since Sarah can't watch the kids. I can't sleep while he's shaving, getting dressed, etc., but I did get 7 hours of consecutive sleep, and I was in bed for 8 hours, which is an improvement. I went to bed later than usual because I did go to choir rehearsal last night. I was glad I went when I found out there's no rehearsal next week.

2. The sun is shining today! We've had a lot of rain lately. The last time I took the kids to the playground was Saturday, and usually we go almost every day. It's also warmer today - a lovely fall day! We had fun at the playground today.

3. Ian is taking longer naps! Just a couple of weeks ago he was taking two 30 minute naps. His new nap schedule is to take a morning nap from about 8:30-10:00am and an afternoon nap from about 12:30-1:00 or 1:30pm. This is sooooo much better!!!

4. We have another babysitter! Yesterday Sarah told me she can only do half of the dates I had given her for the next four weeks. A lady in my church choir lives near us, and I asked her if she knew of anyone who babysat in our area. She said her sister-in-law does. Hopefully Nadia will like going to her house as much as she does going to Abby's house. I'll be going there for the first time next Wednesday as Sarah isn't available that day.

5. Ian is scooting forward and backward on his belly a lot more lately!

6. Ian's diaper rash is totally gone!

7. Ian has been eating stage 1 bananas and peaches the past 3 days!

8. Paul's advisor will be away for a week starting tomorrow. I love it when she travels because then Paul works from home a lot more, which means we see him more plus we save a lot of gas money. His commute (including the 20 minutes it takes to walk from the parking lot to his building) is 3 hours round trip each day so he can get more done if he works from home.

9. Paul's parents were going to come babysit tomorrow so I could attend my faculty meeting and a committee meeting. Because Paul will be home (see #8), they're going to come up on Saturday instead so that I can have a date with my hubby. WOOHOO!

Less Multitasking

I've always been one to multitask, but two things that have increased how frequently I multitask have been #1 owning a laptop computer and #2 becoming a mom. It actually wouldn't have been feasible for me to continue working outside the home without more childcare assistance without multi-tasking with a laptop. There are three instances in which I'd like to stop multitasking: #1 when taking a shower, #2 when sleeping at night, and #3 I'd actually like to stop using a laptop once I become a SAHM. I am very open to suggestions regarding how to take a shower without having one or more kids with you in the bathroom. This morning Ian started crying part way through my shower and Nadia told me she needed to go pee pee on the potty. The good news is that our water bill is probably less because my showers are as short as possible. However I would love to have 10 minutes every other day when I could shower and shampoo without anyone else in the bathroom. Usually I bring Nadia in with me and take my shower during Ian's morning nap. That's probably the best option until Ian goes down to one nap a day. I hate to think that I'll have to wait until the afternoon to shower when that happens. I think I'm going to start asking Paul to watch the kids on either Saturday or Sunday morning so at least once a week I can have a shower by myself.

As for sleeping, it's not truly multitasking in that I can't sleep while caring for Ian during the night, but I lumped it in this category as from the hours of 9:00 or 9:30pm and 6:00am I'd like to do nothing but sleep. I know that from time to time this won't happen because a child is sick or something like that, but it's been over 3 weeks since I had one night of sleeping 8 hours in a row. I highly doubt that Ian will regularly sleep 12 or more hours like Holly does, but it's worth a try to let him go to bed earlier tonight. Last night he fell asleep in my arms at 6:45, but I woke him up and Paul put him to bed around 7:30. He woke up around 10pm and was up for about 30 minutes. Then he woke up at 11:45, and this time I decided he shouldn't be fed again. I changed his diaper (which was only wet) and tried to rock him back to sleep for 30 minutes. He'd fall asleep and then wake up when I put him down. I finally decided to let him cry. Thankfully he didn't cry that long. He then woke up at 4:50 but after fussing fell back asleep until 5:15. I got him at 5:15, and he fell asleep while I was nursing him in our bed. He woke up around 6am. I guess I'm going to have to start letting him cry more if putting him to bed earlier (temporarily) doesn't do the trick. I know he is capable of sleeping 11 hours straight, as he did that for several weeks up until he turned 9 months old and got his first two teeth. The VERY good news is that we've now reached the point where it's the norm for one of his naps to be 75-90 minutes long. Today was one of the rare days when both of his naps were at least 60 minutes long!!

Technology has made more multitasking possible. I frequently talk on the cell-phone (hands free) while driving to and from work. I used to just sit and watch a movie with Paul. Now I'm usually on my laptop either for work or leisure while watching a movie. Having a laptop has enabled my children to only be with a babysitter an average of 6 hours a week. I've been part-time for most of the past 2+ years (50-75%), but even this semester when I'm full-time, I'm not on campus 40 hours a week. Paul watches the kids for 10 hours a week in addition to the 6 hours they're with a babysitter. I don't keep track of exactly how many hours I work per week, but if I worked 36 hours, that would mean that the other 20 hours of work must be accomplished while I'm taking care of the kids or after 8pm. That's honestly the main reason I'm looking forward to being a SAHM. I am only away from home about 15 hours a week, but my job consumes far more than 15 hours of my time each week. Many times I am wanting to play with the kids but instead I am trying to get them to play by themselves so I can grade, respond to emails from students, etc. This is the main reason I haven't replaced my personal laptop. I actually think it would be better if I didn't own one.

My plan at the moment is to keep bringing my laptop to and from school and home. However once I "retire" (it sounds funny to retire at the age of 39 after having worked in the field of education for 19 years), I really want to limit the amount of time I am on the computer each day. I spend very little time with personal email any more. In terms of leisure I mainly use the computer for this blog, reading other blogs, Facebook, and uploading and editing photos and videos of the kids. I also use it for doing some shopping, paying bills, and keeping track of the budget. If I only was using the desktop computer in Paul's office, that would really limit how many times a day I was on the computer as well as how much time I spent on it. That should mean I wouldn't be multi-tasking while on the computer, which I think would mean giving more undivided attention to my hubby and kids. I'm actually looking forward to not owning a laptop. :-)

My biggest pet peeve when it comes to multitasking is students who think I can't tell they are texting during class. Oi vey is that annoying! I can still say I've never sent a text message. We shall see if I ever change my tune on that one.

Roll with the Punches

Sometimes I do pretty well adjusting to the curve balls that come my way, and other times I don't. I was rather upset when I found out that Beth wouldn't be babysitting for us any more. Yesterday morning I was just thinking that it wasn't bothering me any more, and then at church Sarah told me she won't be able to babysit for us this Thursday or Friday, and this stirred it all up again. I have my monthly faculty meeting this Friday so I will be on campus 4 days this week. She said she could only help us out on Monday and Wednesday. Had Sarah been our primary babysitter this semester, she would have told us awhile ago that those dates wouldn't work for her due to the Women of Faith conference, but I only gave her the list of dates on Thursday. I got myself really stressed out as I couldn't figure out who could watch them as I thought Paul's parents would be in Virginia this week. Paul said he'll come home by 2:45 (instead of 5:00) on Thursday, and Paul's parents will probably watch them on Friday. My getting all stressed out really helped a lot, didn't it? When will I learn?!?

Well when one is feeling stressed or down, the best thing to do is count one's blessings, right? So here goes:

1. I am thankful for Triple Paste. Ian's diaper rash is almost completely gone. He no longer cries when I'm changing his diaper. I plan on buying a larger container of the stuff in the near future.

2. I am thankful for Robert Edwards, who just won a Nobel Prize today for developing IVF. My kids are 2 of the about 4 million who have been born thanks to IVF over the past 32 years.

3. After the game I was busy cooking as I had invited Sarah and her family over for dinner. I've never seen Nadia so hyper. She was soooooo excited to have them here. I tried a new recipe, which is generally not a wise move to do with company, but it was a hit! On Saturday Nadia had helped me make some Rice Krispie treats, which is what I served for dessert last night. I love cooking with my girl! We all had a really nice time last night. Ryan (Sarah's husband) and Paul seemed to really hit it off.

4. Last night I put Ian down at 7:15. He woke up shortly after I went to bed, and it took Paul 45 minutes to get him back down. He then slept until 4:11am. Even though that was only 40 minutes earlier than when he got up yesterday, I was determined that he would go back down. I fed him and rocked him to sleep. He kept waking up a couple of minutes later. I kept putting him back to sleep, but after he'd been up for an hour, I decided I was going to let him cry. I changed his diaper and put him in the pack n play in our bathroom so he wouldn't disturb Nadia. Thankfully he only cried for 30 minutes. I was afraid it might be longer than that. I felt badly, but I knew his belly was full and his diaper was dry. I also knew he had only slept for 8 hours, which is not enough for an infant. I was VERY glad I decided to let him cry because he ended up sleeping until almost (drum roll, please) 8:00am!!! I think his previous record the past almost 10 months was 6:35am. It wasn't a record in terms of total sleep as he's slept 11 hours total many times, but he did sleep over 10 hours total for the first time in 3 weeks! His naps weren't long today (40 minutes and 30 minutes), but since they took place much later than usual, Ian should stay in a good mood until bedtime.

2 Nadias and 2 Naps

Yesterday we had a glorious time at the playground. It was chilly in the morning, but during the late afternoon it was a beautiful fall day. Everyone seemed to have the same opinion because the playground (which is usually unoccupied when we arrive) was teeming with children yesterday. Nadia was elated! While we were there we discovered that there was another 2 year old Nadia there! The other Nadia will be turning 3 this month. I should have taken a picture. The other mom thought I was talking to her daughter when I said Nadia. We were both surprised to meet another Nadia since it's a more uncommon name. There was a little boy there named Ethan who turned 1 a few days ago. His due date was also in January like Ian. It made me think of your twins, Regina. Ethan has been this woman's foster child since she he was discharged from a NICU in Philadelphia the end of November. She's now starting the process to adopt him.



It was a challenge to keep Ian awake last night. Around 6:15pm he seemed capable of sleeping standing up. I kissed and tickled him to keep him awake. I put him down at 7:25 hoping he'd sleep longer. Wrong. Even though he only napped for 60 minutes between the hours of 5:00am and 7:25pm yesterday, he was up from 1:15-2:15am and then up for the day at 4:52am. I am totally at a loss. Switching to two naps hasn't solved the problem. His diaper rash is MUCH better. The Triple Paste is the winner (didn't try Burt's Bee's yet) of the five diaper creams I've tried thus far. Ian got a total of 8.5 hours of sleep last night, but since I didn't go to bed until a little after 9pm, I got less than 7 hours of sleep. I am tired, and I am clueless how to get him back to sleeping 11 hours straight at night like he had been doing. He was very miserable this morning (I wonder why?) and although I've been trying to put him down no earlier than 8am for his 1st nap, I couldn't take his crying any more so I put him down at 7:40. Thankfully his first nap was his longest EVER. Whew. I left him at home with Paul this morning. I plan to do the same next Sunday because I am trying to keep Ian healthy prior to his surgery (scheduled to occur in 12 days). I'm trying to prevent him catching a bug from someone else. If I had taken him to church, he wouldn't have been able to sleep until 9:25 like he did. I called Paul on our way home from church, and he told me he was just about to put Ian down for his second nap (at 12:10). I assumed this would be a 30 minute nap. We were stunned that he slept until 1:30! Ian has NEVER taken two long naps in one day before! Yesterday his naps were 60 minutes total, and today they were 3 hours total. His previous record was 2 hours total in a day. What a huge improvement! I hope it wasn't a fluke, and I hope he'll sleep longer tonight.



Nadia showing Daddy her Madame Blueberry.



Diaper Rash



Can you tell that he loves balloons?

 For almost the last 3 weeks Ian has had diaper rash. He had a mild case a few times over the first nine months. A&D seemed to work better than Desitin for him. He went long periods of time without any diaper rash, and when he would get it, it would go away rather quickly. The same was true for Nadia during the whole almost 2 years that she wore diapers although in her case Desitin worked best. When Ian turned 9 months old and got his first two teeth, he got a really bad case of diaper rash. Balmex seemed to work the best. I asked the doctor about it at his 9 month appointment, and he just said to regularly apply Desitin. It has gone up and down in intensity over the past 3 weeks, and it did totally go away for a few days, but it came back with a vengenance a few days ago. Nadia never had a diaper rash anywhere near this bad. He's even bled a little it's been so bad. On Thursday afternoon Sarah recommended Boudreaux's Butt Paste. Friday morning I took the kids bright and early (it's easy to park close to the store if you arrive before 8am) to Walmart in search of this and also Resinol, which Regina had recommended. I bought the butt paste as well as Triple Paste. I looked high and low for Resinol (in the pharmacy area as well as the baby area) and asked for help, but was told they didn't carry it. Yesterday afternoon I took the kids up to the mall so we could go to Target and CVS. Neither of those stores had Resinol either, but I did also buy some of Burt's Bee's diaper cream. I used the butt paste throughout the day, and I wasn't seeing any improvement so I switched to the Triple Paste last night. I've continued to use that one today, and I'm starting to see some big improvement. We've also been putting a little corn starch over the cream (per Paul's mom's suggestion). Hopefully he'll get total relief soon! I feel so badly for the little guy. I've been washing his bottom off in the sink every time I change his diaper rather than using wipes in the hopes that is less irritating. His diaper rash is part of the reason I gave the kids a bath every day since Monday. I'm guessing the fact that he poops many times a day is part of the reason he gets more diaper rash than Nadia (who pooped once a day from about age 4 months onward).



Mommy doesn't mind my fingerprints. :-)

 The search for diaper creams turned yesterday into a shopping day. I hoped that we went to Walmart early enough that it wouldn't interfere with Ian's nap, but he fell asleep in the car around 8:30 and only slept 5 more minutes in his crib once we got home. I even stopped and got him out and woke him up (like you suggested, Regina), but he fell asleep again on the way home.  I always read her 10 books before I put her down for her nap, and on the nights when I am home and can put her to bed (which would be Friday, Saturday, and Sunday since I teach the other 4 nights), I also read her 10 books before putting her down at night. She helps me pick out the 10 books.

I also had dinner with Nadia at the mall, which was fun. We shared a meatball sub at Subway, and then we shared a Blizzard at Dairy Queen. I had a coupon for buy one get one free so there's another Blizzard in the freezer which we can enjoy today. YUM! I know it's not great when you're trying to lose weight, but I've gone from having ice cream every day to going weeks without having it so I can splurge now and then. I was thinking yesterday of how at first I couldn't think of shopping with both kids and now I actually enjoyed eating dinner at the mall (fast food of course) with both kids by myself. The new double stroller is part of the reason this is now possible (thanks again, Grandma!).

I was proud of myself for setting aside some purchases as Christmas gifts for Nadia. Usually I can't wait to give it to her such as this week a Madame Blueberry stuffed animal arrived in the mail that I had bought on eBay. I gave it to her immediately. Am I the only parent who has a hard time waiting for birthdays and Christmas to give toys and books to their kids? I had no trouble setting aside a Sit & Spin that I got yesterday. A few weeks ago I set aside some 321 Penguin dvds that I got since they were on sale. Speaking of shows she watches, Dora is now one of her favorites. That show seems to focus on map skills, which I think is a useful skill, but I wonder in the day and age of GPS and such how many will be using maps 20 years from now?

Ian still isn't sleeping well at night. I'm hoping the diaper rash is the problem. He's been averaging 9 hours of sleep a night. Thursday night Paul put him down at 6:50 so this meant that I got at most 5 hours of sleep because part of Ian's sleep took place while I was teaching. I got home at 8:15, but I need time to unwind. I can't go straight to bed. Last night he only got up once during the night, which was an improvement. I put him down at 7:35, and aside from one short feeding, around 8:15pm, he slept until 5am. I had asked Paul to be in charge of the kids (aside from me nursing Ian) until 7am. I am so glad I did this. I didn't sleep that much from 5:15-6:45, but I enjoyed having that extra 90 minutes in bed. I also enjoyed taking my shower at 6:45am without any children in the bathroom with me. I could count on my hands how many times that's happened the past 2+ years. I came down at 7am, and Paul went up and took a 2.5 hour nap. Until Ian starts sleeping better, I think we should do this at least once a week. I know I feel better than I would have if I had been out of bed since 5am.

In terms of his naps, his morning nap has started sometime between 8:00-8:30 every morning the past several days, and it's been 30 minutes every day with the exception of Wednesday when it was 80 minutes long. His afternoon nap has begun around 12pm. It was 80 minutes long on Thursday. Yesterday he woke up after 30 minutes, but I was able to get him back asleep and then he slept almost an hour in my arms. Today he again woke up after 30 minutes, and I couldn't get him back to sleep. It's going to be hard to keep him up until 7pm this evening considering between the hours of 5am and 7pm he will only have slept for 60 minutes total. At least he's not as fussy today. The past few days he has been crying WAY more than usual around the time he wants to go to sleep but I won't let him (usually 7am and 11am are the worst). This transition from 3 naps to 2 naps has been really hard for Ian. I hope his body adjusts soon!

A small miracle

I woke up this morning feeling really, really, really tired. I skipped choir rehearsal so I could go to bed early, and I was in bed at 8:30, but while I was getting ready for bed, Beth came over and told Paul that she's too busy to babysit for us any more. This was a total shock. I had seen Beth at 3pm before I left for work, and she made no mention of anything, and she also didn't say anything to Paul when he came home at 5pm. Needless to say this was upsetting since it was so sudden. Thankfully I called Sarah agreed this morning to start babysitting for us starting today. It was hard for me to go right to sleep after Paul told me this news. Then Ian woke up at 1:30pm and didn't go back to sleep until 2:15am. As usual, it took me awhile to fall back asleep. Then he woke up again at 4:55am. I had planned to ask Paul to watch the kids for me for a couple of hours on Saturday so I could get caught up on grading, but right now my top priority is sleep. I've been grateful for the neighbor's help the past several months. I knew I was going to miss them when they moved, but their days of babysitting for us have come to an end even sooner than that. I feel badly for Alexis and Gabby (her daughters) also as they really enjoyed watching the kids, and I'm sure they appreciated the money also as middle schoolers don't have too many opportunities for earning money. I need to find a high schooler (maybe from church?) who can babysit for us one Saturday a month for a few hours so Paul and I can still go on dates now and then. I'm hoping against hope that if I go to bed by 8:30pm tonight that I will get at least 8 hours of sleep. This morning I also injured my lower back while giving the kids a bath. I am in a lot of pain. It's really painful to carry Ian right now. I'm hoping the pain goes away asap! Between the exhaustion and the pain, I feel like I am about to have a meltdown.

Even though I worked super hard to keep Ian awake from 4:55-8:30 am, he only slept for 30 minutes. I was so frustrated. He really, really wanted to go back to sleep at 11am, but I kept him up until 12pm. I almost let him sleep at 11am since keeping him up didn't seem to be working, but I am ever so glad I did keep him up. Yesterday I tried to take a nap while they were both down, but since his second nap was only 25 minutes long yesterday, that didn't enable me to take a nap. Today I figured the same would happen so I didn't lie down after putting him down. Well I should have! When I realized he was still asleep after 35 minutes, I went upstairs and laid down. I had said this morning to Paul that I really, really wanted him to take a long second nap in light of my exhaustion and back pain. I told Paul it would be a miracle. Well I should have had more faith. Miracles do still happen. I really wasn't expecting the miracle that I was wishing for. Ian actually slept for 80 minutes! WOOHOO! I am glad I at least rested in bed for half of his nap. I am definitely motivated to keep working on getting him adjusted to two naps a day. If he would sleep in later I would like his naps to be at 9am and 1pm, but as long as he keeps getting up around 5am (or earlier), I'll aim for 8am and 12pm. Paul put him to bed at 6:40 last night. I asked Paul to please not put him down any earlier than 7pm tonight. I also hope Ian goes back to sleeping through the night. Mommy is tired.

One thing that made me feel better about this sudden transition from Beth to Sarah is that Nadia vastly prefers to go to Abby's house. She was excited today (rather than in tears). That definitely made it easier for me to leave for work. Another thing I was thankful for today was that we are using a cleaning service. I am very glad we signed up for every other week. Last Thursday I looked around and was glad we weren't having the house cleaned every week. It's not necessary. I figured it wouldn't take the ladies as long today as it did 2 weeks ago, and I was right. The two of them were done in 80 minutes (compared to about 125 minutes 2 weeksago). I hope this means that if I invest about one hour a week cleaning the house, it can look as it nice as it does with two people cleaning it for an hour every other week (when I become a SAHM). Of course I've still been sweeping the kitchen floor every day and such like that. It's not like I've completely abandoned all house cleaning duties, but it's nice to not need to scrub the toilets and such. I officially put in my request for a 50% unpaid leave for the spring semester. I also let my department chair know that I am considering resigning after the summer. Even though I know my stress level would go down a lot, I admit it's hard to think of letting go of the tenure and promotion that I worked so hard to earn.

Finally!

So for the past nine days I've only been allowing Ian to have 2 naps a day. Today was the first day since the 21st that he had a long nap. For Ian my definition of long is anything exceeding 45 minutes. Ironically his naps have been shorter the past week - only 20-25 minutes. He's been sleeping about 45 minutes total over a span of about 14 hours. Yesterday he was really, really wanting a 3rd nap. I've been trying to keep him up at least 3 hours before his first nap. Yesterday and today he was falling asleep around 7am. He got up around 5:15 both days. Both mornings I gave the kids baths as part of my efforts to keep Ian awake. Yesterday he slept from 8:20-8:55, which was a small improvement. However this morning he slept from 8:05-9:30!!! Woohoo!! If I could be picky, I wish his second nap was the long one so I could also take a nap. It's been awhile since I had one. I called Beth on Monday night to see if she could watch Ian for an hour or two during Nadia's nap so I could get a nap, but she wasn't available.

Last night Ian went down at 7:05 and had another feeding at 7:50. Paul put Nadia down at about 8:05 but when I was about to go to bed I heard her saying that she needed to throw up in the potty. She had been coughing, and sometimes coughing causes her to throw up. It wasn't just phlegm though. She definitely emptied the contents of her belly. She then asked for milk, but I didn't think that was a wise move. She refused water, so I gave her a popsicle instead. She went back to bed around 9pm and slept until 6:45am. Ian woke up around 11pm, and after letting him fuss awhile I fed him at 11:30. Paul said he fussed again around 3am. I slept through that. He got up for the day around 5:15. I am really hoping that the longer nap this morning wasn't a fluke but will become the norm. I also hope I won't have to keep working sooo hard to keep him awake at times of the day when he's not supposed to be sleeping. He cried and fussed a lot more than usual the last two days because I kept trying to keep him awake when he was trying to sleep (particularly after 3pm).
Did you see in the first picture that Nadia is wearing high heels while cooking? She was making breakfast for her doll.

Nadia's favorite place to hide when we play hide and seek.