All posts by JB

Alison

Sleep Lottery

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Apparently it is impossible to win the baby sleep lottery twice (and if any of you have hit it twice…don’t tell me.  Ignorance is bliss at this point).

Reed was the ‘mythical child’ (according to Sarah).  He slept through the night starting at 7 weeks old and never looked back.  In my new mom foolishness I thought this was totally normal.  I couldn’t understand why some children who were 8 and 10 months old who still didn’t sleep through the night.  God is laughing at that now.

Ali is a sucky sleeper.  She is totally capable of sleeping through the night and definitely doesn’t need to eat during the night.  She sleeps through the night maybe once or twice a week.  Too bad she has also been known to wake up at 11, 2:30 and 5:30 all in the same night.

We just can’t get that girl into a good routine. For the last week or so we have been very diligent about trying to create a bedtime routine for her.  I feed her while Reed is getting his bath and getting ready for bed.  Then Randy gives Ali a bath.  Usually she is ready to settle down and go to sleep…but not every night.  And usually she will sleep until 4:30 or so…but not every night.  Some nights she will only settle down if we wrap her up in a receiving blanket and put her in the swing.  Other nights she just kicks and kicks like a crazy person, so we put her in her crib.

Just this past week I felt like I had cracked the sleep code.  She had woken up in the night and I changed her diaper.  Before I could get her jammies back on she was out cold on her changing table pad.  I took this as a sign and just moved her (on the changing pad) into her crib.  She never woke up again the whole night.  Before anyone passes judgement I realize this is probably not an approved sleeping position…but I don’t care.  She was on her back and sound asleep.  She didn’t move all night.

This position worked well for several nights, but last night she wouldn’t settle down and it was back to the swing.

This little girl is already a diva and she isn’t even 4 months old yet!!!  Oh yeah, she also sucks at keeping the pacifier in her mouth!

Here are a few of the many sleep positions she works…

Julie

Learning to Listen

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Today I was supposed to be on a plane to Seattle.  We have been prepping for this trip for a month.  I was going to fly out around noon today and fly all day Thursday to be home right after 5.  I was super excited about it.  Traveling alone is one of my happy places.  I can do what I want when I want.  I don’t get lonely, I really like it.

Today Randy dropped me off at the airport and I flew through the security line.  Everything seemed like it was going great.  Too bad I had this little nagging feeling in the back of my head/pit of my stomach.  It just didn’t feel right.  Long story short, the plane I was supposed to take out of San Antonio was struck by lightning in flight from Dallas.  I’m sure that happens, but it seems pretty unlikely to me.  We waited and waited and waited and finally they told us the crummy news.  Our flight was canceled.  They got me booked on the next flight to Seattle, but I wouldn’t land until 10:30pm.  If this was a trip to ANY other refinery this would be no problem.  I would miss my ride with my boss (who was on a different flight) but I could just take a taxi to the hotel and it wouldn’t be a big deal.  Unfortunately the Anacortes refinery is 90 minutes from the Seattle airport.  Not only would I have to rent an additional car, but I wouldn’t get to the hotel until well after midnight.  And I would have to drive in the cold and dark all alone.  I have done this before, but this time it just didn’t feel right.

I walked down to my boss’ gate and he told me to stay home.  I was SO very disappointed.  I went home and prayed about the situation.  I prayed that I would find peace with the situation and would have a good attitude for my kids.  Then I took a long (fantastic) nap and by the time I woke up I did feel better about the situation.

I have no idea why I wasn’t supposed to get on that flight, but I am at peace that I wasn’t supposed to.  I am sure that I will never know why I should have been home this week, but tonight I am thankful.  I’m thankful to be writing this blog post from my living room.  I’m thankful that I didn’t have to worry about the logistics of bringing home about 75 ounces of breast milk on a plane. I’m thankful I got to hold both of my babies tonight and didn’t have to worry about how stressed out Randy was at home alone with both of them.  More than anything I’m thankful that I listened to God when he told me to change my plans.  It isn’t an easy thing to do.  Stop your agenda and listen to what His plan is.  But man it felt good.  Let’s hope I can be smart enough to listen next time he wants me to do something contrary to my grand plan.

This is what I got to look at tonight instead of an empty hotel room!!

JB

Reed

Pu-Weeze

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Reed: Waa–ter?

Mommy: How do you ask?

Reed: Pu-Weeeezzzze!!

Mommy: Ok.

We must get it on video.  It is hilarious.

I am using it to my advantage.  I will ask him for a kiss and he always says “no”.  Now I say, “pu-leeze” and believe it or not, he will comply!  Success for Mommy!

Julie

The important progress report

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If you know me at all you know that I obsess about my weight.  There is no mystery…its just a fact.  I didn’t lose my baby weight from Reed until I got pregnant with Ali.  I am NOT doing that again!  Ali is 3 months old today (yes, I will make a separate post for her) and I still have almost 20 pounds to lose.  I gained way too much when I was pregnant with her but I’m going to be proactive about losing it this time. 

Since Lent started I have lost 6 pounds and I hope to lose another few before it ends (and I start letting myself eat sugar again!).  I also started Weight Watchers at work last Wednesday.  Nothing like a weekly weigh in to keep you accountable.  I am also being very intentional about what I bring to work for lunch and snacks.  Luckily we have a gym at work, so I can spend my lunch hour 3 or 4 times a week working out.  (Lord knows I would never find the time to workout after work).  Let’s hope this baby weight will come off sooner than last time 🙂

Alison

Ali is 3 Months!

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Alison has made it.  She is officially 3 months old.  Why is this such a huge milestone?  Because now we don’t have to take her to the emergency room unless her temp gets to 105!  Let’s pray that doesn’t happen…ever.

Ali is officially the happiest little girl I know.  She is so smiley and chatty all the time.  All you really have to do is look at her and she will flash one of her sweet open mouthed smiles your way.  (Reed was such a stingy smiler.  He made us work hard for every single one.  And not much has changed :))

Ali is still struggling with her sleep.  Some nights she does awesome and some night she is up a lot.  On a good night she will sleep from 8 – 5, but all bets are off if it’s a bad night.  I chalk her sleep problems up to a few things.  1. She can’t breathe.  The poor child has been snotty since the day she was born.  2. We don’t have a consistent bed time routine.  Reed was the lucky first born who had a consistent bed time routine and still does today.  Poor Ali just has to go with the flow.  We are going to start working on a routine though.

Ali is still 100% breast fed which makes me proud. 

She rolled from front to back for the first time when she was 2 months and 2 weeks old.  I thought it was a fluke so I never posted anything about it.  Turns out it wasn’t a fluke.  She does it all the time.  I’m a bad mom and don’t make her do tummy time very often so I really don’t know if she can go from front to back.  Guess we will ask day care about that one…

She is wearing size 1-2 diapers and has just moved up to size 3-6month clothes.  At her doctor’s appt she weighed 12 pounds, 15 ounces. 

I think my favorite thing about Ali and our family is how much her daddy loves her.  Randy loves Reed and always has…but I can definitely see an extra bit of love for our little girl.  Not only is she a girl, but she looks SO much like Randy.  He is extra sweet to her and really loves on her.  Makes me smile 🙂

Reed is also still in love with her.  He always wants to “hug Ali” and “see Ali”.  I love that.  I know it will wear off once they have to start sharing, but for now it melts my heart every time.  (Except when he gets mad and says ‘Ali down’ or when he squeezes her head.  Yes, he has squeezed her head.  Little punk!)

Julie

Lent

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Lent is a very important season in my life.  I did not grow up ‘giving something up for Lent’.  That is traditionally a Catholic practice and I was raised both Methodist and Presbyterian.  To be honest when I was little we spent most Easter weekends at the lake and didn’t even go to church.  We went to church on a regular basis, but Easter weekend was usually a beautiful spring weekend and so we went to the lake to get the property ready for the summer. 

Fast forward to my life as a wife and mother.  Lent is the single most important time of the year for me.  Holy Week is truly my favorite week of the year.  Yep, it trumps Christmas and birthdays and Halloween (and you know how I LOVE Halloween).  As an adult I have found not only a church and group of church friends that inspire me to be more Christ-like but also a husband who is a fantastic spiritual partner.   I think because I wasn’t raised with ‘giving something up for Lent’ as a requirement, it feels so much more real to me.  I take this season of discipline very seriously.  Every year I pick something that I love, but that I should give up.  One year it was tortillas.  Seems minor, but it was a BIG deal.  One year I gave up cheese.  Seriously, hardest 40 days ever.  This year I had several things I desperately wanted to do to honor Christ and the sacrifice he made to save us all.

Remember my earlier post about being more intentional in my life?  The first Lent discipline I could think of to honor that desire was to give up Facebook.  Facebook is not a priority in my life, but it is something I do all the time, without thinking.  When I’m waiting for a meeting to start, I check FB, when I’m waiting for Reed to finish eating breakfast I check FB, when I’m riding in the car I check FB (riding, not driving!).  I realized how often I check it, and I don’t even really care about it.  Seemed like a very obvious distraction that I should forgo for these 40 days.  What have I learned?  I really don’t need FB!  I honestly don’t miss it at all.  Will I get back on once Easter comes, sure.  Will I incessently check it? Nope.  It is amazing how easy it is to give up Facebook.  Do you find yourself checking it all the time just to fill an empty moment?  I encourage you to put it away.  Look out the window instead.  Or talk to your kids more.  (Or do some work! :))

The second thing I did for Lent was give up sugar.  That’s right.  ALL sugar.  Including high fructose corn syrup, etc.  Why sugar?  Because I absolutely LOVE it.  )I also have lots of baby weight I need to lose and I figured this would help).  I have been dreaming of sugar even before Lent started because I was nervous to give it up.  I ate my weight in birthday cake (mine and Reed’s birthdays were right before Ash Wednesday) because I was so nervous about giving it up.  How am I doing now that Easter is getting close?  Do I still miss it?  You better believe it!!  I dream about sugar.  I also dream about the shame I would feel if I forgot and accidentally ate some.  That gives me nightmares.  Am I already planning what I will eat first?  You bet!  I c-a-n-n-o-t wait until Easter morning when I can eat some sweets!! 

The final thing I committed to do for Lent is read a 40 day devotional called ’24 Hours that changed the World’.  It has been fantastic.  It has grounded me every single day and reminded me why I am denying myself these human pleasures.  It is to honor and remember what Christ did in those last 24 hours of his life.  I highly recommend this devotional if you are looking for one.  It is appropriate for any time of year, not just during Lent.

There you have it.  My heart on a platter.  Hope you enjoyed 🙂

Family, Travel

Aggie Baseball Weekend

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Our tailgate weekends in Aggieland are some of my favorite weekends of the entire year.  In the beginning they were all together and all during football season.  Now we have gotten smart and we space it out.  One for football and one for baseball.  Baseball weekends are longer and MUCH more relaxed. 

In years past Randy and I have either crashed with my parents, or rented a hotel room for the weekend.  This year we rented a pop up trailer and camped right along side the bus.  It was awesome!  We are seriously considering buying a pop up for our family.  Randy grew up camping and I grew up RVing.  When I was very little we had a pop up.  Gradually we upgraded over the years to the fancy bus my parents have now.  It was so much fun to tow our own trailer.  When it came to the sleeping Randy and Reed got one side and Ali and I slept on the other.  Just like when I was a kid.  I think we might have to invest…

The only negative was the train.  If you have ever been to College Station you know that Olsen Field is about 50 feet from train tracks.  Unfortunately that train comes WAY too often.  8 times on Friday night.  Why do you think I know that?  That’s right.  Every.Single.Time that train comes through he blows the horn 8-10 times. SOOO annoying.  Randy said that every time the train came Reed would wake up and then snuggle a little closer to him.  By the end of the night Randy didn’t have a bed or a pillow because Reed had taken over.  Ali slept through the whole thing…lucky little lady.

Saturday was the fun day.  Too bad it was summer weather and not spring.  Since I’m nursing and have 30 pounds to lose the heat was NOT welcome from me.  Despite the heat we had a great time with all of our friends.  I truly love thinking back to how our tailgates have changed in the last 10 years (that’s right 10 years!!!)  We now have more goldfish and sippy cups than coolers full of beer.  I wouldn’t change it for anything. 

My other favorite thing about how our tailgates have evolved over the years is that we are welcoming old friends back again.  Jennifer I was SO happy your family (and Ashley!) joined us.  It was so much fun to catch up with old friends and see their families.

It is always a challenge to pick a weekend that everyone can attend and it’s always a challenge to get your family there, but thank you for making the effort!  I love watching our kids play together.

Julie

Alison

6 Weeks

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Ali is already 6 weeks old.  Where oh where has the time gone?

  • I can’t believe she is sleeping in her crib (for the last 2 weeks).
  • I can’t believe she doesn’t need her head rest in her carrier anymore.
  • I can’t believe she moved out of newborn clothes (around 4 weeks).
  • I can’t believe she is only waking up at 3 and 7am at night.
  • I can’t believe I go back to work in 6 short weeks 🙁

She is getting so much prettier every single day.  I love her so much and already can’t imagine life without her.

Juile

Alison, Reed

Bunch of random thoughts

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Sorry for such a long delay between posts.  I have all these thoughts pop into my head during the day, and never manage to make it to post it on the blog.  Consequently this is just a random mess of thoughts 🙂

To continue comparing my children…Alison is much harder than Reed was as a newborn.  (Let’s hope this means she will be an easier toddler!)  The first 2 or 3 weeks were pretty normal but lately her sleep habits have gotten terrible…and I am grumpy as a result.  All of you warned me that have a cuddly baby was a bad thing and you are right!  She only wants to go to sleep in my arms.  Sometimes I don’t want to sit on the couch and hold a baby ALL day.  I’m good with it for most of the day, but not all.  As a result of her cuddliness I haven’t been working out like I need to and I haven’t lost a single pound since day 5 postpartum.  (On day 5 I had lost 20 pounds and I haven’t lost another ounce since!) Back to the crappy sleep.  She still has her days and nights mixed up and so she is awake from like 11pm to 1am.  NOT a good thing.  We are trying to keep her awake more during the day to fix this problem.

The second major difference is that she is still spitting up.  It isn’t ever a lot, but it’s enough so that I always feel like I’m covered in throw up.  I didn’t realize how annoying this was.  I should have enjoyed Reed’s lack of throw up a WHOLE lot more.

Ali had her 4 week checkup Monday and she weighed 9’6″ (70%) and was 21inches long (50%)  Sadly, Reed gave her pink eye so I had to put ointment in her eyes for a few days.  I hated seeing her goopy eyes when she woke up in the morning.  So sad.

Other than my earlier complaints we are doing great!  Reed still loves Ali, sometimes too much.  We are still working on ‘gentle’.

Last random thought…I really suck at being a stay at home mom.  I am not good at self motivation and we wind up spending way too much time at the house.  However on the other hand I’m sad that I’m going back to work in 7 short weeks.  Is there any way to make me happy?  Sometimes I even annoy myself!!!