Wordless Wednesday

Sleep

Just had to post about this record that Dayson has set. Last night, for the first time in his almost one year of life, Dayson slept through the night! He went to sleep right around 9pm and woke up at 6:30. As usual, I was awake several times through out the night. Got up twice to walk around and check on him as this was so unusual for him. But he slept!! Praise the Lord, he slept!!

Yes, we're still exhausted but hoping that will change soon ☺

In other news, he's sporting a pretty good shiner right now. He was having fun chasing Sheba (grammy's dog) and as he's still not completely balanced all the time, he fell and left a really nice bruise on his upper cheek which has since spread to under his eye. I'm sure he'll have many more of these kinds of things happening in his life, but as a parent, it's still hard to see. Ahhh, the joys of having a busy boy. Gotta get used to all the rough and tumble.

Hard to see it in this picture, but that's his nice little shiner. It's a lot more noticeable in person.



Happy Birthday Grammy

Dear Mom (Grammy Niki),

Happy birthday!! We hope that you have a very wonderful day today. Here's a short little video clip from the kids wishing you a happy birthday. We love you so much!!

The Cart

Over the past few days, BJ, Dayson and I have been dealing with a pretty nasty head cold. Amazingly, Iyana hasn't gotten it yet for which I am extremely grateful. While it's taken everything out of BJ and I, Dayson has still had his usual energy. Yesterday, Iyana went with her Grammy to church and then to go help her clean her office. That left Dayson alone with two adults...pretty easy right?? Not when neither have any energy to even chase him for more than a couple of minutes. BJ finally decided in a desperate attempt to corral him for a couple of minutes to stick him in an empty laundry cart...he loved it! Not only did he get to chew on the sides, he also got to ride around the apartment which he thought was a blast. And no, this is not how we normally treat him or what we do when he's worn us out. Like I said, it was one of those desperate times that called for desperate measures ☺.

Wasn't sure about it at first.

He's teething again so I think the cool metal felt good.

Introducing...

Our new photographer-in-training.

Iyana received a special gift from our good friend Kathy. A new (to us) digital camera that she loves! Everyday, she gets it out and takes a BUNCH of pictures. Pretty soon here once we get more into her school year, I'll take her out and we'll do some lessons. From time to time, I'll do a post for her to show off all that she has learned. Until then, enjoy some of the fun pictures that she has been taking!

This is one of my favorite pictures that she's taken. Simply beautiful! 

And her favorite subject to take pictures of...Dayson! 

It's That Time Again and Another Milestone

Today marks Iyana's first official day of 4th grade. We had her start Spanish last week just as a starter, but today it's the full load. I can't believe we have a 4th grader now. It's just gone by so fast. This will be our second year of homeschooling. We've had our ups and downs and it took most of last year to finally figure out a schedule that worked for us, but we got it done and ended up pretty happy with the results. I love how we're able to really see and work with the area's that Iyana struggles in most. She misses her friends from when she was in school, but we've tried working in play dates to help with that. If there was any one complaint that she had about homeschooling, it would be that...and maybe that she has a lot of work to do on some days ☺. This year besides taking Spanish and doing all of the other typical subjects, she will be learning Greek with BJ and taking photography lessons with me. All in all, homeschooling has been a good experience.  I love having her home with me more often and she has loved being able to experience all there is to having a baby around the house instead of only seeing bits and pieces of her brother growing up. They have become very close as a result of that which makes me so happy. To see the love that they have for each other just melts my heart.

So, here's to another year of schooling and growing. May God bless this year for Iyana and I pray that she learns more about Him daily and that she would grow ever closer to Him.

The milestone...Dayson has never slept for more than six hours in one shot and that has only happened a handful of times. Over the past four nights, I decided to tackle the night weaning. Instead of gradually working on weaning him during the day, I figured since we have so many problems at night, that I would do that one first. Of course, he is not happy with this but I've been assured by his doctor that he really doesn't need to eat in the middle of the night anymore and that he should be sleeping for longer stretches. At one point in time (a few weeks ago) I had gotten him down to just nursing once at night. That changed when he went through his recent growth spurt and he was back to nursing twice during the night. He's very good about sticking to his four hour schedule. I decided that he could go six to seven hours in between a feeding at night to start with...Dayson's reaction to that first night? We stayed up for an additional three + hours that night (he wasn't a happy camper). The second night was a little better, he wasn't as fussy and he didn't stay up near as long. On both these nights (like with many others we've had of late), we ended up out on the mat in the living room because of me being exhausted and him absolutely refusing to go back to sleep in his own bed. On the third night, he still got up at the expected time, but settled down a lot faster with minimal fussing.

Now, for the milestone I mentioned. Last night for the first time in his life, he slept for just over seven hours! I of course did not sleep that long as my body naturally awoke every couple of hours (and in that, I had to get up and walk around in order to go back to sleep). After getting up one to four times in a night for over a year, ones body does not know how to sleep properly. Once Dayson is finally sleeping better more consistently, I'm going to have to retrain my body to do the same. I'm hoping that this isn't a fluke and that he goes back to getting up several times a night. Maybe he's finding that it's not worth getting up at night if he can't get his midnight snack. In any case, I'm just thankful for the progress that's being made and praying for the strength to continue. It's so easy to give in and nurse him at night so that he'll go back to sleep verses staying up and working with him on going back to sleep without his favorite snack. I'll miss our midnight snuggles, but I think I'm ready to start sleeping more normal again.

11 Months

I can't believe today marks 11 months since Dayson was born. We waited so long for him to arrive and now it's just flying by. Our little boy is in a hurry to catch up with his sister and so hasn't wanted to stay a baby for long. Here are some of the latest highlights of the past month.

Am I really this old??

• Dayson, you now weigh 20lbs. 2oz. Didn't get the chance to measure your length yet.
• When you wear disposable diapers, you're in a size 3. Clothing size is mostly 12 month stuff now.
• You love to eat! This past week you must have gone through a growth spurt as you were eating everything you could get your hands on. A typical meal would include two jars of baby food, some crackers, a cheese stick and what ever you could get off of mommy or daddy's plate.
• Your favorite snacks right now are any fruit flavored puffs, wagon wheels and fish crackers.
• You still do NOT like to travel. We recently made the trip to Umatilla twice to meet up with Papa and Grammy so that Iyana could spend a week with them. Each way is about a four hour drive. Once again you exercised your lung power (which is getting quite loud). Any toy we gave you immediately went over the side of your car seat in anger and by the end of one of the drives, you were constantly signing 'please' so that we would let you out. Loved that you were asking nicely but felt bad that we couldn't let you out in the car.

• You are walking everywhere and now trying to run! You finally figured out your balance now that your ears have cleared up and haven't slowed down since. Well, not that you ever have slowed down, but now you're really taking off.
• You've also learned how to stand up on your own. You still prefer to find something to pull yourself up on, but more and more we're seeing you just get up where ever you're standing.
• You are becoming more and more strong willed. At times it's very frustrating for mommy and daddy, but I know that as long as we teach you right, it will come to great use as you get older.
• Speaking of strong willed, you have learned to protest (quite loudly again) if something doesn't go your way or if you don't get what you want.
• I have a feeling that we have a Mr. Fix it on our hands. We had a chair the wasn't put together recently and you kept going over and trying to figure out the screws. Once I started putting it together, you were right there 'helping' me. After giving you the screw driver, you knew exactly where to put it, just couldn't figure out how to twist it.
• Separation anxiety has definitely hit. Occasionally you will stay in the nursery at church without one of us having to be in there. Last week, you clung to the wall (while I was in the nursery with you) and just cried. It took me sitting on the floor with you to get you to calm down. This last Sunday went much better though. You only fussed for a little bit.

I can't believe that in one more month you're going to be a year old. Dayson, you have been such a blessing in all of our lives. Looking forward to what all God will be doing in your life as you get older.