The good, the bad, and everything in between

I have lots of things on my mind today that I could write about.  We’ll just see how this goes.  I’ll try not to be all over the place, or talk (write?) too much.

 

Work

Ahh, yes.  The ever-annoying work discussion from me to you.  I’m sorry, I really do apologize for complaining about work all the time.  Several months ago, I decided to learn more about an exciting opportunity.  Essentially, I’d be opening an insurance agency.  With a really awesome company to back me up and help me out a lot.  Seriously, it’s a great opportunity.  But also a risky one.  I really wanted to do it and I thought that I would be good at it, but it required a few things (time, financial sacrifices) that I just wasn’t SURE about.  I prayed that I would make the right decision about whether or not to do this.  And then I started having second thoughts.  Like major second thoughts.  And then we had some things happen in our neighborhood and it suddenly became much more important for us to move than for me to embark on a risky business endeavor that may or may not be successful.  So, for now, that is on the back burner.  I still would love to be able to look into that again, just in the future.  So then I started looking at ANYTHING and really there’s not much available.  It sucks because there are a lot of things that I COULD do, but not really one thing that I want to do.  And now, after a talk with our realtor, I’m not really looking until we are in a new house.  Unless something pops up within the company I currently work for.  It’s a big company, and that’s a possibility, one I’ve been hoping for since I started this job.  Literally.  That’s how they got me to take this job.  I turned it down twice, then they said that after a year, I could move to any other department in the company.  And I was so desperate to get out of working heinous hours that I took it.  You’d think that since they were so desperate to get me that they wouldn’t treat me like complete crap.  But you’d be wrong.  Most days, I handle it, but today I have a terrible attitude.  I need to snap out of it.

 

House

We’re moving!!  We’re moving!!  Well, not yet, but hopefully by Spring/Summer!  I don’t think it’s been a secret that we would like to move in the next few years.  We’ve just kept putting it off because of this or that.  Mostly because I’m nervous about our house selling.  Well, we’ve been getting closer and closer to just doing it, and then earlier this month, there was an…incident, in our neighborhood that put me over the edge.  One night about 10:30 I woke up to the sound of a helicopter above our house.  It didn’t go away for an hour and a half.  A friend who lives in the neighborhood called me and through her husband’s police scanner, I think, informed me that there had been an attempted home invasion and 3 armed men were running through our neighborhood.  What.the.eff.  So for that hour and a half I sat awake freaking out that they were hiding out on my front porch or something.  I mean, I was freaking.  Things like this happen in our neighborhood, which is NOT in a bad area of town, fairly regularly these days.  There were at least 3 homicides last year IN OUR NEIGHBORHOOD.  The incident this particular night happened ONE BLOCK from my friend.  We could deal with it when it first started, but not now.  Not when we have a baby to keep safe.  It’s just not okay with me anymore.  And we don’t HAVE to live there.  So we aren’t going to.  It just so happened that this happened the same week that I was getting uneasy about that risky job opportunity AND the same week I found (what I thought was) our dream house online, in our most desired neighborhood.  I’m pretty sure that if my life was a cartoon, there would be a giant yellow arrow pointing to MOVE! NOW! It just so happens that we went to look at that house, and several others, last weekend, and turns out we HATED the inside!  Haha, who would’ve thought.  Anyway, so that’s a big no.  But, the plan is to put our house on the market in March.  Hopefully everything works out timing-wise with selling/finding another one.  I’m nervous but trying to believe that it will work out.  But, aside from all the nervousness/worry……YYYYYAAAAAAYYYYYYY!!!!  New house!!!! J

 

Baby

Nothing exciting.  Except that he’s cute and the cuddliest love bug.  And he’s started shaking his head side to side, like he’s saying “NO”, but he does it at things he likes (laying on his changing table-seriously, why is that SO fun for them?!) as well as things he doesn’t like (getting buckled into his car seat), so who knows what he’s doing.  It’s funny J

Sleep Training

I'm not a fan of the term "cry it out", as I'm sure not many are. I'm also not a fan of "sleep training" either for some reason. But, that's what's been going on around this house for about a week.

Actually, we were not planning on doing this, it just kind of happened.

Cooper has always been such a good sleeper. In the past, we've never had any issues with him going to sleep. However, we have pretty much always rocked him to sleep. Mostly because I like to rock my baby, and he would let me. And it worked and he didn't freak if we laid him down or later on if he woke up he wasn't like "where ARE you?!"

THEN, week before last happened. He started taking FOR.EV.ER to fall asleep rocking, then would fuss if you laid him down. On that Thursday, he simply would NOT sleep unless I was holding/rocking him. He would cry and cry. Plus, he had been waking up so often in the middle of the night, for his pacifier or whatever. That was so annoying. We would get up about 5 times a night just to turn him over and put his pacifier in. And by 'we', I mean 'me' So that Friday, when he started doing the same thing again as I was trying to get him to sleep, I just decided that Cooper needed to learn to fall asleep on his own.

So, I laid him in his bed, told him I love him and that it was time for night night, and left the room. Now, we HAVE done this once before, for 2 nights. The first night, he only whined around for about 20 minutes, so that's what I was expecting this time. Uh...no. He cried, a lot, and really hard towards the end, for FORTY FIVE minutes. That was hard. I went in in increasing intervals. 5 minutes, then 10 minutes, then 15. Never more than 15. And those of us that have had to do this know, 5 minutes feels like 5 hours. So hard. The first night, I don't even know if I made it to 5 minutes the first time. But, he finally fell asleep. And you know what? Not a PEEP until the next morning, at SIX! That's late for our little man, usually it's 5am. And no middle of the night pacifier hunts!

Night two he cried for 25 minutes, but he cried harder that time :( But, slept again until 6am with nothing in between.

So, by night 3, I was really hoping that the trend would continue. And as I was about to go in after 8 minutes? Nothing. He was out before I even went in the first time! I was so happy! And he barely cried that time. Then, about 20 minutes later, he started screaming. I was so confused about what to do. I just started the interval thing again, but then as I would be ready to go in, he would be quiet. Then a few minutes later, screaming again. :( I was wishing I had someone to tell me what to do. Really, that night was the hardest. Because he was literally screaming. Finally, I went in and picked him up. And he still was screaming, Then I realized that this was something he has done a couple of times before. No one, including the dr really knows what's going on. (Because the first time he did this, a looong time ago, it was for a super long time and nothing would calm him so we called the dr) Dr's best guess is night terrors, which sounds so sad! Anyway, basically you have to wake him up, because he really is still sleeping, eyes closed and everything. It really is sad :( So after I got him woken up and sat with him for a couple minutes, I put him back down and he fell right asleep and slept all night.

I was worried that, because of night 3 and the fact that I picked him up, night 4 would basically be like starting all over again, but he did really good. I think I had to go in once, and that was it.

And you know what, nights 5 and beyond? He doesn't even make a peep! Just falls right asleep! And sleeps all night! It's so crazy. Naptime too! I just lay him down and he goes to sleep! Sometime he does roll around for a while and make some noise, but who falls asleep immediately anyway? It takes me a while, so obviously it will for babies too. The thing that I was surprised about is that it has helped him sleep DURING the night, not just the way he falls asleep. It's so nice not to have to stumble around looking for a pacifier at 2am in the dark. Especially when his new favorite game is "throw my pacifier out of my crib" and it can be anywhere in his room.

Lee was out of town when I did all of this. And, honestly, it was better that way, because he is NOT a fan of sleep training, and that's why we didn't continue the first time. But, he isn't the one that puts Coop to bed at night, so of course he wasn't as worried about it. I thought that he would surely be mad at me, but now that he's seen how much better Cooper is sleeping in general, I think I brought him over to my side. :)

Wah Wah

Well this week sure went down the crapper before it even started!

As I said in my last post, Lee was in Mexico for a long weekend. He called on Sunday saying that he had been feeling sick and maybe it was the flu. Awesome. He got home really late on Sunday night, so I was already sleeping, but Monday morning he looked and sounded like crap. He tried to go to work, which I said was a bad idea, and they told him to go home. He went to the doctor and does indeed have the flu. I feel bad for him, not just because he's really sick, but also because he's been away from Cooper since Thursday and now that he's home he can't even hold him or anything :( Coop had a flu shot, but I didn't get one, even though my company gives them for free in the clinic in out building. Stupid. I ran down and got one on Monday, haha! She said that it takes a week to be effective, but it's worth a shot. I was still worried about Coop, but so far he seems to be doing fine.

I had been working on my resume and a job application all weekend. I was going to apply for a new job on Monday. Sunday night I found out that the job was no longer available :( I've been looking for a job FOR.EV.ER (as I'm sure you all know if you've been reading for any period of time) and I had gotten myself all hyped up for nothing. I was really upset. Lots of things are going on at work right now and I'm struggling to believe that I will ever find anything else. Even the prospect of something else makes me feel better. But I never even have that.

And to top it all off, it's supposed to ice and snow on Thursday. Ughhhh. I seriously don't like winter. And I'm not one of those people who wants it to snow if it's going to be freezing. No precipitation! It makes me so nervous to drive. We are so busy at work that I can't take any time off. All I really want to do is take the rest of the week off work and snuggle with Coopie :)

Sorry for the debbie downer post. There is one redeeming thing about this week. We are going to look at some houses this weekend :) So fun! Although then I'll be sad because I'll love one and we aren't ready to purchase yet! Hahaha, it's always something, right?

Saturday Stuff

I'm having a WILD Saturday night hanging out on the couch watching HGTV :) I have several things I want to get off my mind, so this may end up being bullet points, or at least a little choppy.

It is way past time for me to get rid of this baby weight. Actually I can't even blame it on the baby because at one point, I only had about 10 lbs. more to go to reach pre-pregnancy. Now? 20 lbs. to reach that, and 40 to reach what I want to be at. It seems daunting to me, but I have to start somewhere right? I've been counting calories. I lost about 20 lbs doing the same thing right before I met Lee, so about 5 years ago. I was at my best weight / best feeling about my body ever then, so that's where I'm trying to get again, and I know I can do it, it's just going to take more time this time around. I've lost 6 lbs. so far. Lots to go.

Work has been INSANE this month. Normally I get there at 7 and leave at 4 on the dot. I didn't even see Cooper Monday through Wednesday this week. And only Thursday because Lee is out of town and I had to get home. I don't mind working hard, but at this point in my life, I'm just not willing to work until 8 at night and miss seeing my baby for days at a time. I'm very thankful that I am out of my previous job, where I would work 70, 80, 90 hours a week for about 5 months out of the year. Once I worked 100 hours in a week there. SO glad that I'm not there anymore and that I have much better hours, for the most part, at my current job, even if I do complain about not liking it.

As I mentioned, Lee has been out of town since Thursday. In freaking Acapulco for a bachelor party. When he landed on Thursday, it was 94 degrees there and he had the nerve to complain about the heat! No sympathy from me! I will admit that I do enjoy my quiet alone time when he is gone. Even though I do have Cooper to care for, I still feel like I'm getting alone time. Don't get me wrong, I love spending most of my time with Lee, but I've always enjoyed a quiet night by myself every once in a while :)

For about the past 3ish weeks, Cooper has been waking up randomly throughout the night. He never required much, just his pacifier or blanket, maybe a quick rock. BUT it was SEVERAL times a night, and often at 4am which is only an hour before we get up for the day which sucks and basically we, ahem, I, am up for the day. THEN Thursday night, he wouldn't sleep unless I held him. And while I love being needed like that, it continued Friday and I didn't want it to get worse. So I decided to let him cry. We've done this once or twice before, but he'd only ever whined for about 15 minutes then fell asleep. Not this time. FULL ON crying, hiccuping, the whole nine. For 45 minutes the first night :( That was so hard. Tonight, night 2, he only cried normally for 25 minutes. Shorter, but still hard for me. I don't just let him cry, BTW. I go in at increasing intervals. Like 5, then 10, then 15 minutes. Never longer than 15 minutes. It seems like an eternity. But you know what? the first night, he didn't wake up ONCE throughout the night. Slept right through til 6. So I think he's also getting better sleep.

I will leave you with this video I took tonight. Coop still gets his baths in an infant plastic tub thing on the kitchen counter for right now, but he would rather sit up. So tonight I let him sit up in the kitchen sink! He looooooved it! Here is is splashing around (don't look at the surroundings, the kitchen was a mess :))

There was more water on the floor than in the sink when we were finished, but he had such a good time!

7 Months Old

Dear Cooper,

Today you are 7 months old. Closer now to your first birthday than to your birth day!

You are still sweet as ever, although over the past month, you have become a little more needy, and – dare I say it - whiny. *gasp!* Surely not my angel! You’ve started to occasionally whine when I leave the room. And Poppa reports that you’ve been a little whiny throughout the day. His words: “not bad, just uuump uuump uuump”. I do believe that you’re working on a tooth, although your dad and I cannot find any evidence on your gums. However, I believe the sheer amount of drool you produce everyday should be evidence enough!

You will now hold your arms out to the side when you want to be picked up. I love this new development! So cute. Sometimes I’ll hold my arms out while walking to you from across the room just so you’ll have plenty of time to hold those little arms of yours out :)

You also love to touch faces. Usually when someone talks to you, you reach out to touch their face. Not only do you touch, you often squeeze our faces, which is not too pleasant. Neither is when you pull my hair or pull my earrings out, but you’re so cute that I’ll let it slide. Even though this week alone I’m down one of my favorite earrings and one earring back.

You can sit up pretty well now. Not completely unassisted, as I’ve learned the hard way. Oops. You’ll be sitting there just fine for several minutes, and the second I turn my head, you do a face plant. Sorry buddy!

When you get excited about something, you do this little fast breathing thing, it's so funny! You get excited pretty often :)

You show no signs of trying or wanting to scoot or crawl. While I’m very okay with you not being mobile yet, for my own sake, I think we’re going to start trying to entice you a little. I have set you on the floor with a toy you like just out of your reach, but you mostly just lay there on your tummy look around, haha :) I think you’re just not interested in it at all and that’s okay.

Speaking of laying on your tummy, you have taken a trait from your mama and started sleeping on your tummy. Although, you do sometimes whine in the middle of the night because you want us to turn you over on your back. You don’t do that as often as you used to though, thank goodness! For a while there it was about once every 25 minutes!

You are still sleeping from about 6pm to 5:30am. You’re an early bird, and always in the best mood in the mornings. You just chatter away to yourself until we come in and get you, and you give us your biggest smile!

It is becoming a big challenge to change your diaper. You’ve become quite the wiggle worm while on your changing table! Anything you can get your hands on you reach for. You are currently obsesses with a piece of wood on the back of your changing table and you grab it all the time.

It’s also been a little challenging to get you to drink your bottle. You are simply too busy to sit still, and if we do get you to sit still, you are always looking all around the room while you’re eating. You’ve also been eating quite a bit more solids lately. You now get breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Last week I made several varieties of homemade food. I made: squash and apples, peaches, mango, sweet potatoes, pears, and peas. You have never turned your nose up at the premade variety of anything I made (except the mango, you’d not had that before), but you hated the peas! You were so funny about it though; you would take a bite, make the worst face ever, and open your mouth for more. Sweet boy, you just didn’t even think about the fact that you didn’t have to eat it! Spitting it out never crossed your mind! I felt so bad that you would keep eating it despite your obvious dislike. So, it’s back to premade peas for you!

We’ve also introduced you to puffs, which you love, but haven’t quite figured out the pincer grasp, so the puff usually ends up getting lost in your fist. If I hold one out for you to grab, you open your mouth instead! You got a sippy cup for Christmas and currently try to use it as a teething toy

You’ve started taking more lengthy naps now, as opposed you little catnaps here and there. You usually take an hour and a half nap around 8, an hour at noon, and another hour around 2 or 3. You certainly love to sleep!

Your new nickname this month is “inspector”. You inspect everything! From your crocheted blanket we keep in your carseat, to the carpet in our rooms, to my necklace, and anything else you happen to brush your hand against. You inspect it all. It’s so funny to watch you do it, you just keep opening and closing that tiny hand of yours over whatever it is you’re inspecting. I’d say that the majority of the time, you try to get it in your mouth too :) You even started inspecting the fabric on your rocker during your photo shoot!
You are still just such a chill baby. You are usually very content and you can entertain yourself very well. You love to be held, and for us to hold you in front of the back door so you can look outside. You also love to look at yourself in the mirror. It is so funny how hysterical you find that! That’s one surefire way to get you to smile! You’re enjoying your jumeroo, and I believe you've figured out how to jump, although it's your own version of jumping :) You also still love to be swung around and thrown in the air. You continue to enjoy reading books, and you’re so much better about not trying to put them in your mouth.

You make our lives so full buddy! We love love love you!

Mama

Sneak Peek

This morning we had a photography session for Cooper. The photographer posts 'teasers' on F.acebook and I just HAD to share these! He was SO tired the entire session, even though he'd just gotten up from a nap, so we were all working for those smiles and I was curious to see how they came out. I am so happy with them!

The photographer is Son Kissed Photography and if you're in the Tulsa area and have a baby, I highly highly resommend her!

Christmas Eve 2010

We woke up very happy on Christmas Eve!

{I know this is SUPER blurry and his eyes are shut but it's still so cute :) His eyes kept shutting because of the flash and he had JUST woken up, poor guy! His room was actually pitch black when I took these}

In the afternoon, we made snickerdoodles for Santa, he specially requested them ;)
{This was his first time to see the mixer at work and he was startled and just kept staring at it like WHAT ARE YOU?! Haha}

And then we started our new tradition of openning a (Christmas pajama) gift on Christmas Eve
{This was his first gift to ever open}

Taking off the ribbon

Wondering "Now how can I get this paper in my mouth?"
Daddy helping open the box

"Mom, these are CLOTHES?! We aren't supposed to get CLOTHES for presents!"

My parents came over for our new tradition of Christmas Eve dinner. I made Chicken Parmesan, and Cooper decided (once again) that his bedtime was for the birds and he needed to socialize.
Did I talk about new traditions too much? I didn't intend to be all THESE ARE OUR NEW TRADITIONS, but that's what happened.

Anyway, Christmas Eve was fun this year and I hope to continue some of the traditions we started :)

Stay tuned for Christmas Day!