Kimba

March 31st, 2005

I've learned that dating someone and living with someone are two completely different things.

I've learned that Caleb needs everything to be served with some sort of sauce.

I've learned that there are few things more satisfying than serving food your husband loves.

I've learned I bottle emotions more than I previously thought.

I've learned that you should always pay tithing first. 

I've learned that it is entirely possible to pack up and move your things in 24 hours.

I've learned that going to bed angry is okay. A full nights rest brings things into focus.

I've learned that marriage is work.

I've learned that marriage is rewarding.

I've learned that it's all about service.

I've learned to trust in Caleb's hunches and direction.

I've learned to love the diversity of the Bay Area.

I've learned how to make buttermilk and jam. 

I've learned I have issues with even numbers and vacuum lines.

I've learned that my decorating taste is eclectic and modern.

I've learned that I am not a dog person.

I've learned that I do not love to run.

I've learned that having a child changes everything. For the better.

I've learned that Caleb is a fantastic father.

I've learned that Caleb is a fantastic husband.

I've learned that I married my best friend. 

I've learned that I have so much more to learn, and I'm so grateful I have an eternity to do so, with him.

Easter Sunday....ish

Easter Sunday outfit-wearing came early this year, what with our church holding it's semi-annual Conference next Sunday, wherein we all watch our leaders speak via satellite (or if you're lucky, in the Conference center!) at our local church or in our homes, if you are fortunate enough to have access to the channel. That means we don't attend our regular meetings, and therefore cannot show off our cute little kids in their Easter garb.

And dudes, he was pretty cute this year. We snapped a few pictures before heading off to church and it was difficult to get him to stand still. Much more difficult than last year, for sure. And while we're on the subject, how crazy is it how much they change in a year?!

 

Seriously, is this the same kid as the drooly slug from last year?! He's got GEL in his hair!!

And a spring in his step.

 

Mah boys.

And this isn't the best one, but I love it because you can see his "cheeeeeeeeese!" face. He says it every time we bring out the camera now.

 

And look at that! Straight at the camera, situated on the tripod. What a pro. Or, rather, thanks to the genius flashing light for the timer...it's a wonder we didn't get more pictures with one of our mouths open, saying "Wy! Look at the light!"

Also a wonder that his little clip-on tie stayed on the entire time. He usually tosses that thing in the first two seconds. An Easter miracle, perhaps?

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Addendum: I'm still trying to figure out why my pictures are suddenly blurry on my site, until then you may double click on them to de-fuzzify your eyes.

Eggs and bunnies and ducks, oh my!

Sorry for the delay in posting, it's just that the cuteness factor this weekend was huge and it took forever to sift through all the photos. There's so many, I'm going to have to break them up.

Yeah, it was that serious.

So first, we have Wy's first Easter Egg Hunt. It was put on by a nearby city and was pretty fun. Free hunt, and then lots of little booths with games, balloons (Wy's favorite), a petting zoo, pony rides etc. The weather was perfect, and we had a fantastic time.

Here we are waiting for the egg hunt countdown, along with 3,000 other kids and parents. They did it in age groups, which was really smart. Even still, the field was crazy crowded, with at least two people to every toddler. Of course. Caleb manned the camera AND the video camera, so he would like me to "give him props".

It took a bit, but Wy soon caught on to the whole idea and started madly tossing eggs in his basket. Too late though, as most of them had been scarfed up. He doesn't care though, and neither do we.

Soon however, he forgot the idea and started putting all the eggs back. We let him toss the chocolate ones, but I secretly followed him and replaced all the plastic ones.

So happy! Right? He sort of just looks confused...

His real prize was when we finally got him a balloon. Or two. One for the stroller, one for him to hold. You've never seen such joy!

 

I tied it to the loop in his pants, and off he went. We chased him around the grass and up the hill the rest of the morning. He was in heaven.

The view from the top.

Next of course, we had to get in line for the petting zoo. Chickens, ducks, bunnies, baby goats (with tiny horns!) and baby pigs. Absolutely adorable. For a mere 5 tickets!

He held on to his balloon with one hand the entire time, of course. He did however, touch each animal with one finger. It was sort of adorable.

Sadly, most of that is on video and not in picture form. It's really the best way to capture his timid one-fingered touch. And then the subsequent "all done!" sign.

After we washed his hands he decided to relinquish his death grip on the balloon string, and we discovered this to be an excellent way to keep track of him. Forget neon shirts at amusement parks! Forget leashes! Go with the balloon.

This was one tired and satisfied little boy....who is totally ready for next Sunday. Bring it on, Bunny!

Little tidbits

Dropped my sister Liz off at the airport. It's never fun. We miss her already, and to comfort myself, I think I'll paint my nails with the fun turquoise nail polish she bought for me. Thanks, Liz. Mwah.

*We're in our pj's tonight, watching our new favorite TV show, Jamie Oliver's Food Revolution. It's shocking and hilarious and sad and insightful.

*I can't get enough of this lovely little blog. 

*And from that lovely little blog, I found another and have been thumbing through her archives since Wy went down.

*I'm feeling like I need a bit of a vacation, a little weekend get away or something. Have you heard of Vacation Rentals by Owner? Sure, the design is a bit archaic, but it's a great site to find the perfect home to stay in. No more early morning wakeup calls from housekeeping. I've been searching for the perfect something...

*Easter is coming up, and I've been loving all the fun floral prints, spring colors, and crafts. And while they're fairly pricey (ahem), I am LOVING JCrew's new dolled-up tees. So pretty.

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Hope everyone has a fun weekend, we're going to a little Easter egg hunt in the morning - Wyatt's first. Picking up "balls" and putting them into baskets? He's going to be a pro.

For a rainy day

Everywhere we've gone this week, Wy has received a balloon. Three days, three separate balloons. From grocery stores, and even a nice little family at the mall that just handed him their son's balloon, for no other reason than that Wyatt just kept pointing and saying "Ba-yooon!" and they thought it was cute. Thankfully, their son didn't seem to mind, though we felt guilty.

He couldn't be happier. As soon as he spots them he starts yelling, "Ba-yooon! Ba-yooon!" and continues as we leave the store, while we drive home, and for the rest of the day. I walk in his room to get him from his nap and he immediately launches into, "Ba-yooon? Ba-yooon?" It's so funny to see him so excited and entertained by something as simple as a balloon. Over. And over. And over again. To be a kid!

Also, I will have you know I bought the shirt he is wearing 4 years ago. Caleb and I had only been married a few months and my family and Caleb thought I was insane to buy kids clothes. We were no where near thinking about kids yet, but we were in Forever 21 and they were discontinuing their kids line and everything was on sale. A no brainer, right? And here we are, with a cute little boy to  put it on. I told you it'd be worth it, Cabe. Call it a woman's intuition.

I just hope I'll someday have a cute little girl to wear the girls shirt I bought. And the four or five other little clothes I've purchased since.

It's not insane, is it? It's thrifty. It's proactive. Clothing storage. Intuition.

That's love

My sister is in town, and so that means for the past two days we've done either nothing (read: pedicures or napping (while wy's asleep, of course)) or everything (read: shopping). Wy has been a good sport through all of this, especially the shopping part, and Caleb is just thankful to have work as a distraction from all the girliness. He is, as you can see, clearly above that.

We still love him, though. Goofiness and all. He works hard so that I can stay home and be girly with my sister. Even when he's sick. Thanks, Cabe.

Spring Sunday bubbles

This is Wyatt's favorite activity. Bubbles. Blowing bubbles and being in the backyard.

 

He is definitely the very happiest when he's outside, roaming, doing as he pleases. Thankfully, spring and it's accompanying warm weather is here and we're going to be taking full advantage of it. Happy Spring!

all photos taken by caleb

Just teething

Friday was the worst day. And all day long I was second guessing myself - is it really just teeth? What if he's sick? Maybe he has an ear infection?

He's never had one before, so I don't exactly know what to look for.

Really though, I knew he was just teething. No, not JUST teething, but teeeeeeeeething. Something fierce. The whining, the crying, the fussing, the drooling. He'd shove three fingers in his mouth and chomp on his back right molars, his fingers and fist completely covered in saliva. Apparently what he had before was just the tips - this time the entire thing was coming up and good night, was it a doozy. If I gave him his binki he'd also move it immediately to the side so he could chomp on it. A few times he actually tried biting his arm. He only had a 45 minute nap that day, and so he was in bed that night just before 6:30. He woke up four separate times before 10 pm.

Friday was the worst day.

Saturday was better, today was better. He's still not eating much. Caleb and I are playing the game where we throw anything we can think of on his tray in hopes that some of it will make it to his stomach, instead of being played with or even chewed up only to be spit out.

Isn't parenthood glamorous?

Even the foods I can always count on him eating, pancakes, scrambled eggs, noodles, he's refusing. I'm hoping this is just in conjunction with the teething and not a new extreme pickiness realm.

One of the few things I've found he'll eat, is popcorn. I decided to try it on Friday, he's only really ever had a piece or two, and he loved it. I gave him some in his own bowl and he loved dumping it out and putting them back in.

Let me add though, popcorn is a bear to vacuum up.

Notice the binki. He'd pull it out long enough to shove a kernel in.

Another food is yogurt. He absolutely loves to eat it himself.

We'd just brought him in from the backyard, and yes, he's in nothing but a diaper. In hopes of soothing his sore gums we pulled out a frozen fruit chiller and let him chew on it. Caleb cut it open however, something I hadn't planned on, so I insisted he finish it outside. 

Yogurt is a messy business, and Wyatt quickly figured out a fun game.

This is a falsely happy face. He woke up twice more that night.

Thankfully he is a happier boy, which is good, cause my sister is coming tomorrow (woo! spring break!) and I don't know how happy she'd be spending her vacation with fussy Wy. 

Fussy Wy would put a damper on the shopping. And we wouldn't want that...would we?

Caleb?

Wyatt: 16 months

I've said it before and I know I'll say it a hundred more times, but if I had to pick one word to describe Wyatt, it would be busy. Busy, busy, busy. From the second he wakes up till the second he goes down, he's doing something. Working on something. Trying to accomplish something he has decided is a must. Like trying to get into the bin with blanket and doggy in tow. Or scatter every toy we own throughout the house. Chase the dog with a broom.

I've been thinking a lot the past few days about the differences between boys and girls, how much is learned and how much is inherited. I never taught Wyatt to kick a ball, he did it himself. One of his favorite things to do at the park is move sand or bark chips from one place to another. He'll pick up fistfuls and deposit them a few feet away onto a stump or section of concrete he's designated. I never even thought about teaching him that. I taught him to blow kisses, to use sign language for the few basic necessities, and to blow bubbles. But I did not teach him to make car sounds. It's fascinating to watch. One of the most surprising things however, was when we were at our friend's house and he picked up their doll and gave it a hug. It was the sweetest thing I never taught him.

 

I have officially filled up our schedule with all sorts of activities. Gymboree class, Open Play (at Gymboree), park groups, and story time at the library. Not to mention the various errands we run and amount of bubbles blown in the backyard. Our days are full. Too full? I've wondered that, but when we're home he is only entertained for so long before he's whining at the counter for the bubbles, or at the sliding glass door. Like, ANYTHING but these same old boring toys, mom. 

He loves to just roam at the park. He spends as much time, if not more, playing in the dirt and wandering through the grass as he does on the playground. It makes talking with other mothers a bit difficult, but what's more fun than watching your son pick up candy wrappers and put rocks in his mouth?

Gymboree is a slightly different story. He likes it, but is still so shy. He's fine as long as the teacher isn't actually trying to get him to do something (most of the class is unstructured play however), and he isn't a huge fan of the parachute. It's strange to see, when he's so animated and goofy at home. I'm hoping that by continuing to go he'll become more comfortable, and not more withdrawn. How are you supposed to know? It's not exactly something you get a do-over for, is it?

For the last week or so Wy has been cutting a tooth. Or something. Maybe one wasn't all the way in? Either way, it's been the worst one. Today he woke up early from his nap completely ornery and clingy and whiney. I thought about powering through another round of errands, but decided against it. Instead we grabbed his blanket, his stuffed monkey, his little dog blanket, his binki, a round of Tylenol and a sweep of Baby Orajel, and sat ourselves on the couch to watch cartoons and movie trailers. And while I felt bad for my feverish little guy, it was so nice to have a quiet afternoon of cuddling. It's a rare thing for him to stop moving long enough to rest his head on my shoulder, and so when he does I relish every second. An entire afternoon of it was heaven.

Wee lephrechaun

Hi! I'm pretty cute, right? Well, what you don't know is that my mom  had to re-wash this shirt today because while she was getting ready I got into the guest bathroom (must not have been properly shut) and unrolled a toilet paper roll and then, and here's the great part, got into the toilet bowl brush. Such fun! My mom totally wins the World's Best Mom award today.

But I'm adorable (and thoroughly clean), so it's okay.

Eensy Weensy

It's such a strange thing to watch your child learn something so quickly. Maybe strange isn't the best word, but it's true. Within seconds your entire view about who they are and what they're thinking and capable of, changes. One minute you think they're nothing but an adorable slug, and the next minute they're crawling. Your entire world changes when they become mobile, and you suddenly get a glimpse of what's going on in their little head when they start to speak.

I've been thinking lately that I need to be careful with my tendency to get into ruts. I enjoy them, I relish the familiarity and comfort, but I can't expect Wyatt to do the same. Nor would I want him to. While it works fabulously for naps and feeding and bedtime, he needs all different kinds of stimulation during the rest so that he can learn and grow and understand the world around him. I have to pay attention and try and figure out when he no longer needs my help with an activity. He's not able to put on his shoes and socks right now, but someday he will and I need to be looking for signs that he's ready.

His most favorite activity ever is bubbles. The stuff is like cat nip, he knows where I keep it and several times a day will walk over to the cabinet and say "Bobo! Bobo!" over and over until I either give in, or distract him with something else. When we're at his Gymboree class he walks over to where the bubbles are kept and asks for them, and when they're finally pulled out he yells "BOBO!!" as loud as he can, which is the most animated he gets there. We have to actually refer to them as "The B word", or spell it out because his little ears perk up as soon as he hears it.

Today I was putting him in his high chair for an after nap snack, and he started to squirm and fuss, not wanting to wait the 3.5 seconds for me to grab a cracker.  I started to sing The Eensy Weensy Spider while buckling him in, and to my surprise he started doing the actions himself. All of them! The spider, the rain, the sun...

I was so surprised and so excited, and a tiny bit sad. I felt like I had been selling him short. I try to be aware of making him try things himself (especially when he's trying to get into the same bin he does every day), but I sometimes forget to have him try all the little things himself.  

He catches on after a bit, the camera always throws him off. You'll have to forgive my singing and the shakiness. Moms tend to get into the actions a bit, you know. All you need now is to see my slap-happy, wide-eyed smiling face.

Kids are so much fun.

Thinkin' with yer noodle

I think I can speak for every mother out there when I say that Daylight Savings can bite me. On Sunday itself, I thought we were free and clear. Wy had a super short nap because two helicopters decided to fly by our house so low that it shook. I wasn't too worried, because that only meant he'd go to bed earlier and get on track. He was in bed just before 7 pm. Yeah! I win!

This morning however, he was up early and had a short afternoon nap. He woke up while I was in the middle of making dinner for us and another family, and then it became a battle between the two of us. It was shorty-nap plus teething, against a double batch of lasagna. And there's only so many graham crackers in the house. 

Speaking of which, what more teeth could this kid possibly get? He has 16 already, but this seems to be the hardest yet. Could he really be working on a second set of molars?!

Anyway. Whatever it is, it ain't fun.

Partway through, I realized we were out of tomato paste. I threw Wy into the car for a quick trip to the grocery store, and noted that the thermometer read 77 degrees. I so wished we could have been running around a park instead of cooking in the kitchen. Who bakes in that kind of heat? Crazy people, that's who.

The art of distraction reached a whole new level when we got home, and thankfully, I won.

A foam noodle, which will be cut down to serve as a leveler for his new car seat, and a plastic bag.

Can you handle the fun?!

In living color

I had to. I know it's long, so if you'd like to, skip ahead. Pants come off around 2:45, he decides to try another venue at 4:50, and triumphs around 6:50.

You can also hear him say "help please" at 5:45. Caleb taught him to say this while he was trying to get into the tub one day, and now he uses it all the time. "Hat da! Hat da!" until you come and assist him in whatever it is he's trying to do.

At least he's polite, right? Polite, particular, and very determined.

Wyatt vs The Bin

I was going to take a break from the look-what-Wyatt-got-into-today posts, but today sort of took the cake. Here. Let me show you. 

Let me set the stage for you. Wyatt loves his blanket, and more so recently, and after waking up for the day or after naps he insists on tossing it out of the crib before I get him out, and will drag it all over the house. Randomly throughout the day he'll flop himself down on it and be still - even if only for 3 seconds - and then get up and go about whatever it was he was going to do. Get into a bin or drag his alligator around. Today though, he combined the two.

 

Here he's been caught red-handed. He's trying to simultaneously get his blanket and himself into the bin, while putting his head on the blanket. And having a difficult time trying to sort out the logistics.

 

This is his first idea. It didn't work.

Clearly.

This went on for quite some time. About five minutes, and then I decided this was only getting better and pictures didn't do it justice. I grabbed the Flip, and recorded for 8 minutes. 8! He kept throwing his blanket out, then throwing it in, then moving it around, unsatisfied, and would start all over again. 

Somewhere in the process, his pants came off. Cause, you know, that always helps.

He finally figured it out, and seemed sorta happy with it. He was in, his blanket was in. But. How could he lay his head down? 

Back out again. Except, crap, his foot got stuck.

And that's never fun.

He gave up and went to what worked.

But not for long.

I often wish I could find out what he's thinking, but I have never wished so hard as I did today.

If you can't sit in them...

Make music.

Sorta lovin' that little turn he does in the beginning.

It's nice and quiet now, but I'm certain in a few days I'll be kicking myself for showing him this.

Exhibit D, does this picture make me look bad?

The other day I was in the kitchen cleaning up after Wyatt's afternoon snack, and heard Wyatt start to fuss. I thought he'd maybe got his finger stuck in the cabinet door, or maybe he wanted to play with his cars and couldn't get the lid off, or maybe he was having problems pulling out the cord to the lamp, something he knows he shouldn't, yet loves to do.

No. He was stuck in our shoe basket.

So I did what any normal mother would, I immediately grabbed the camera and started snapping away.

Sorry for the dark, slightly blurry pictures. While I may seem a monster, I was trying to quickly get a good shot and didn't have time for fiddling with camera knobs and buttons. I did eventually help him get out, and I wish I could say this deterred him from further attempts. It did not. 

The boy loves to get in stuff.

Exhibit C, and the homecoming

For the record, I do not force or suggest he get into these items. I merely capture, for posterity. As is my duty.

I had a fantastic time in Oregon with Abby, little (gorgeous!) Lydia, and Brian (eventually). We didn't leave the house, we rarely left the bedroom or couch, we didn't turn on the TV once, we were hardly on our laptops. We talked, we ate, we flipped through magazines, and we snuggled the crap out of that sweet little girl. It was perfect!

And I have to toot my own horn, because people, I did really great. While I missed Wy and Cabe, I was fine. We talked, we even Skyped a few times, and I didn't shed a tear! (Maybe because I did all that beforehand?) It was a smashing success on all counts, even from Caleb's end. He says he had a blast hanging out with Wyatt, and gained "a greater appreciation for what (I) do".

Now, Caleb has always been a great help and always been understanding and supportive, always acknowledged that being a mom is hard, hard work. He's always said so to me, and I've appreciated it, immensely.  However, I think a weekend alone, and even a few days of hosting on top of it, helped him to really see what it entails. I think it's something every dad should experience. And mom, too. While I sympathized, I had to grin when he was telling me on the phone how hard it was to make dinner for the boys while feeding and watching Wyatt. And how he wanted them to appreciate it, and clean up afterward! I told him it felt a little like I was commiserating with my girlfriend, and he agreed, saying it was a little weird to send his business partner and sales rep off to work while he stayed home with the baby.

He even took Wyatt to the beach on Saturday, something I haven't had the guts to do by myself yet, though he probably scarred him for life. Apparently Wy was afraid of something, started shaking and crying after a few minutes. Caleb wasn't sure if it was the sound of the waves, or the dead sea lion he discovered lying a few feet away from them, on the rocks. Needless to say, despite packing a lunch, snacks, drinks, balls, balloons, and blankets, they stayed for 15 minutes.

I suppose this just means we'll have to go more often and get him used to it. We've got a week long trip planned this summer in SoCal with my huge family, and it's either the beach or shopping on that trip. And I don't think Caleb will be happy if Wy and I have to go shopping every day. Sounds fabulous to me...

I don't even know!

I've watched this clip at least 12 times in the last several days, and still find it hilarious.

Happy Monday! Sorry, once again, no embedding. Kinda annoying, but what's one more click?I promise you'll enjoy it.

Exhibit B, and ding dong, mom is gone!

Because of some really ridiculously crazy circumstances and situations, altogether insane Calebness really, stuff I hope to be able to divulge here once it's all figured out, he wasn't able to take me to the airport yesterday.

Thankfully, Brian, Caleb's business partner and Abby's husband (oh! you didn't know that? yeah, it's worked out rather well...if I do say so myself) (Hi, Brian!) was there working and so he had the honors of dropping off a mother who was about to leave her child for the first time. This worked out rather well actually, the boys were running a bit behind because of some meetings, and so I had just enough time to throw my suitcase and purse (just a purse! what the heck?!) into the car so that we could make it to the airport on time.

No dramatic airport goodbyes, no lingering at the car, just a quick kiss goodbye.

So I'm walking to my terminal, all proud of myself that not a single tear had been shed thus far, and marveling at how insane it was to be walking around with nothing but a small hot orange $5 purse from Target.

Nothing but a purse!

Nothing but a purse.....crap. My camera. I'd left my camera in the car. I'd spent the entire day charging the batteries and emptying the card so that I'd be able to take three zillion photos this weekend, and I'd left the camera in the car. Duh.

Abby and I were just discussing the Mommy Brain phenomena, and how I didn't feel like I'd fully got my brain back since Wyatt was born. It's better for sure, an entire nights sleep will do that to you, but it's not back to my pre-baby abilities.

For instance. Two nights ago I was getting ready for bed, picked up the bottle of nail polish remover I'd left on the sink earlier, put it on my cotton pad and had it within inches of my eye. If it weren't for the strong smell, I'd have done it. And probably lost all my eyelashes or something.

Anyway! All this to say, hi! I'm here and STILL haven't shed a tear (go me! even during a skype call!), and am having an excellent time. This morning we sat in bed talking and snuggling little Lydia until, oh, 1 pm. I'm loving the baby sounds and smells, and has anyone found that Baby Hunger guard? Cause this is getting serious.

Exhibit A, and packing light

I'm leaving this little dude tomorrow. Don't get me wrong, I'm very excited, I get an entire weekend to spend with my best friend and her seriously adorable baby girl. There will be lots of magazines, lots of Diet Coke, and lots and lots and lots of baby cuddling.

Lots of cuddling. Is there some sort of protective device I can wear to combat the Baby Hunger?
Cause I have a feeling I'm going to be needing it - bad.

But ya know? Leaving him. Not gonna think about it....just gonna think about Oregon.

Also, as a sidenote, do you know how crazy it is to pack for one person? Do you know how empty your bag is? Light? I keep walking around trying to figure out what I'm forgetting, and when it boils down to it, I'm forgetting every single item my 15 month old requires.

And that's supposed to happen. Weird.

Car boxes and wooden alligators

To the untrained eye, this is just an empty box. Well, now it is. It used to be filled with all things Costco. (Bless you, Costco, for giving up one of your precious boxes. I made 2 trips from the car to the house, rather than the typical 7 million.)

But to an almost-16 month old, this is a Magical Box of Wonders. Something to get into, crawl over, pull, and push. He spent forever playing with this thing today.

His favorite thing in the world is to get into things. This box, his bin of balls, the bin of balls at the Gymboree class, the laundry basket, the basket where we store our shoes, even my diaper bag.

He climbed into my diaper bag. While I was in the middle of cleaning it out. Just toddled over, climbed right in. Thought this was perfectly acceptable. Why are you giving me that look?

I don't quite understand this love of getting in things, I thought at first it was because Caleb would push him around the house in the laundry basket, but no. He's perfectly content to just sit there. Today his highchair cover was in the wash, and so I let him eat his graham crackers and milk in the laundry basket. That's where he wanted to be anyway, and it just so happened to make an excellent place for a snack. Dump the crumbs right into the kitchen sink. Voila! At Gymboree, he spends at least part of the time trying to get into the ball bin, and would stay there except that there's usually three other kids trying to get the balls out. 

Maybe he likes the safe, closed in feeling. He doesn't make a peep when we put him in his crib for naps or bedtime, and will happily roll around and hang out in his crib long after he wakes up. As a baby he napped the best while in his carseat, and I ended up letting him nap in it for quite a while. I thought it would ruin him forever, that he'd never get used to sleeping outside of it. He'd be 12, and sleeping in a carseat, all folded up like a pretzel. Imagine the sleepovers.

Of course he didn't, he isn't, and is a fantastic sleeper. It was funny to go back over my old posts and remember what it was like with him. Your entire world revolves around sleep. That's all you think about. How to get them to sleep more? Longer? More regularly? And in the moment, it's so hard to see into the future. I couldn't possibly imagine sleeping an entire night ever again. The whole thing! From start to finish! I was so worried about getting him onto a schedule, despite my belief and trust in Dr. Weissbluth. And ya know what? He was right. And I can say that I wish my old self knew that it would get better, to just chill, stop stressing, and roll with it, but I don't think that's the point. I had to learn that myself to really cement it in.

I look back, and it seems so long ago. I used to worry about him sleeping in his carseat, and now he's pushing a box around and making car noises, and taking his pet alligator for a walk.

In just over a years time. It's pure insanity, I tell you. This is all going too fast.

Oh, hello spring!

Caleb picked these from our backyard. Apparently our succulent bush thing flowers? Abby said it was a hens and chick bush or something. Clearly,  I have a green thumb and retain this type of information. Whatever, it's pretty and I like it.

Here's to getting out of those horrible first two months of the year - Happy March!