He Did It!

We put Jon down to sleep last night at 8:00 and he didn't wake up until 7:00am! What did it? Well, it's hard to tell for a boy who doesn't seem to do much of anything in a pattern. But some of you know he has been having trouble with really dry skin that he just rubs raw until it bleeds. We seem to have finally found a prescription cream that is clearing it up, so it might be that he just isn't waking up itchy or sore during the night. I hope this is one trend Jon will continue with!!

New pictures are up

We've had a lot of first in the last couple of weeks!
*Michael can now write his name!
*Jon turned 6 months old!
*Jon is now eating cereal and loving it. He grabs at the spoon and shoves it into his mouth.
*Michael started preschool.
To share all of these moments with you, I've uploaded a bunch of pictures. There are also pictures from our last couple visits with family. You can see them at http://www.flickr.com/photos/tchaig/. Have fun looking! :)

Jonathan's Growing Too

So not to leave our second son out, let me share with you all how much he is growing too.

First of all, Jon is finally sleeping again. For the last two weeks he's had a straight sleep of at least 3 hours at night, usually even 6-8 hours straight. We are loving it here and even Jon seems much happier in the morning from a good sleep.

He is also reaching for, holding on to, and diving for anything he can get his hands on. He wants to experience anything and everything. We have a feeling that he will be a wild child when he learns to crawl.

But the biggest change for Jon is that he started eating cereal yesterday! And he loved it. At the first bite, we got a bit of a strange look, but on the second he grabbed for the spoon and shoved it into his mouth. Even Michael got in the action helping to feed him.












While I'm on the subject of my wonderful second son, I'll let you know that I finally got around to scrapping the pages from his birth. :) Here they are:

Michael's First Day of Preschool

Michael started preschool today. How in the world we got to this point in our lives I just don't don't know. Is Michael really that old already? Am I? Wow!

We started the day (well actually we started this the day we signed him up) by going over what he could expect to happen at preschool. Michael is one of those kids who thrives on routine and cowers at even the mention of the unexpected. He is the one who broke in the new toddler teacher at church yesterday by providing a full blown meltdown when they walked into kids' worship late - after things had already begun. He is the one who stood in front of the cupboard today announcing that I simply could not eat cereal for lunch because, "It's just not right, mom." (We actually had fresh strawberries in the house even though it's winter and they sounded good to eat on cereal.) So we talked today about how they were going to sing and eat a snack and play. I made sure he knew that the teacher would pick the snack (not him). He was a bit concerned that I didn't know what he would do first and assured me that he would tell me when he got home. He was excited to hear about the space on the carpet that was tagged with his name where he could sit.

When we got there he did very well, and I did too if I can say so. Neither of us shed a tear. We hung up his coat and he was invited by a highschooler to join another boy in playing with trains. Seizing this opportunity, I gave him a hug and quickly exited stage left. The preschool is at the local high school where the students taking child development classes can help plan and lead activities for the preschoolers. It seems like a great situation for all involved. The high school students get hands on experience and my son gets more attention than I could give him in a week.

Then two hours later I was back and waiting in the car for them to bring the kids out. I thought back to all those times I stood on the other side, sitting with the kids and making sure they all got dismissed to the right parent and was glad that this time around I just had to worry about one child. Michael came out to the car and imediately announced that he played first (remember back to the conversations we had had earlier in the day - now he knows what comes first. I hope they don't change that. lol) He then was pleased to announce that there were two Nicks - I believe he was refering to the high school students. When I asked him what his favorite thing was he said, "Snack - We had grahm crackers Mom!" And with that I entered into the world of parents who can ask all sorts of questions about their kid's day without ever really finding out much information.

Bible reading

Our church has just started a daily Bible reading program. I'm not sure where it comes from, but it gives you a couple of passages to read through each day and by the end of the year you will have read through the new testament twice and the old once. The cool thing about it is that there are student and children versions as well. They won't make it through the whole Bible in a year, but they read smaller segments of what the adults are reading each day. This allows everyone in a family and really our whole church to be reading the same passages, and then allows us to discuss them together.
I, by the way, forgot yesterday, so I'm already a day behind, but I'm sitting down to do the reading now. I also just sat down with Michael before his nap and read the children's passages with him. He was so excited because it was the birth and shepherds stories from Luke 2, which we told many times this past holiday season so he knows them well.
If you want to check it out or even follow along this year, here is a link:
http://www.wrccc.org/2008/community.php#daily

Update

Well, I figured I should update everyone after that last post.
Michael if fine now. He had a fever the next day, but then all was fine. He however, would have loved for the babying to continue...
Jon is sleeping a bit better. He is still up a couple of times a night, but not every hour anymore, which is at least a step in the right direction. Just keep praying that I continue to function ok on interrupted sleep!
And I'm off to upload some new pics if you want to check them out:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/tchaig/

Why I took two naps today

Here is the story:
Jon, up until a couple weeks ago was a pretty good sleeper. We had our share of times up in the middle of the night, but nothing really bad. Then two weeks ago he started waking up every 45 minutes to an hour - day or night. We had been swaddling him and having him sleep in what was his favorite space - his bouncy chair, so we thought maybe he was out growing this. About a week ago, we only half swaddled him and put him in his bed. Same result. Every 45 minutes - and hour he would wake up wanting his pacifier back in his mouth. Most of the time giving the pacifier back works the first time, but then when he wakes again he is almost too tired to suck on it, so it just keeps falling out of his mouth, and he just starts crying. So we finally decided to let him have a try without the paci to see if he could figure something out. Well, we had a couple of days of that and really not much luck yet. So I've been trying to get a nap in each day.

But last night really tops it all - here is the rundown (I think... I was a bit groggy by the end so things might be a bit mixed up there.)
7:00 Jon is tired and we put him to bed.
8:00 Michael to bed, Jon up crying - he cries/whines off and on for an hour or so - we pop in periodically to let him know we love him.
9:00 Both boys sleeping
9:30 Jon crying again - we repeat the process
10:30 Jon crying again - we repeat the process
11:30 I go to bed because all is finally quite
12:00 Jon crying again - we repeat the process
12:45 Tim and I head to bed hoping for a couple of hours of sleep from Jon at this point
1:30 Michael is crying - I go in and comfort him from what seems to be a bad dream
2:00 Jon is up crying - I feed him and he goes back to sleep
2:30 Michael is crying - I go in and he has thrown up all over his bed. I get him to the bathroom and cleaned up and put new sheets on his bed.
3:00 Back in bed
3:30 Michael is crying - I go in and he has thrown up all over his bed (yes again). I get him to the bathroom and cleaned up and set up a sleeping bag on the floor of our room for him.
4:00 Back in the bathroom with Michael who is throwing up again - but not on his bed this time - way to go Michael.
5:30 Jon is crying - I go in and feed him and he goes back to sleep.
6:00 Back in the bathroom with Michael who is throwing up again
7:00 Jon is crying - I kick Tim out of bed (who by the way has slept through this whole thing :)) - Tim gets Jon up and tells Michael he should go back to sleep.
8:00 Michael is up and we head downstairs for the morning.

:) Got to love being the mom! And now you know why I loved my two naps today!

So you don't worry, I should follow this up by telling you that Michael has had a fever today and been more on the calm side, but seems to be doing just fine. He loves the taste of his medicine (calls it a special treat so I guess I should make sure to put it away out of reach...) and has been playing fine today.

Jon is mostly happy even due to the lack of sleep this week, but has taken to slipping off into sleep whenever we give him a pacifier (but never for more than 45 minutes of course!)















It however has not stopped Jon from learning new things. This week he has begun rolling over!