Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Very Strange

So in my last post I said that Aaron has been waking me up. It's normal for him to wake up once a night and have a bottle (on his own) and sleep in until around 8am. He's been doing fantastic actually...until the past few nights. I kinda figured he was teething because, come on, he's only got 4 teeth...he's BOUND to be getting more, right? But I hadn't really seen anything going on lately...but every time he gets like this: fussy during the day, sleep not so great, shorter naps...I KNOW that's what's going on. So I had him laughing the other day and saw that the tooth next to his left top tooth is starting to show. It hasn't popped through yet, but I can see the outline of it. Good, it IS teething. But then I saw some white spots in the top BACK part of his gums. I felt one...it didn't really feel like anything, I felt the other and lo and behold...it's a TOOTH! I'm not sure if it's a molar or one of his bicuspids, but it's definitely NOT part of the "normal" tooth pattern. I'm excited though because the sooner we get these teeth in, the sooner things will smooth out. I'm not a fan of teething!

Making Progress

I've been working on putting Lilah in her crib and then when she wakes, nursing her and putting her BACK into her crib, rather than being lazy and bringing her to bed with me. Let me first say that I am a lot more tired these past couple of days then I was before...but it's part of the price one pays, I suppose. I really don't think the tiredness has to do with Lilah though, because she's been great...I think it has to do with her brother waking me up too!! But that's a different post!

So last night she went from 8:30pm until 1:30am (GREAT stretch!) and then from about 1:45am until 3am! I brought her into bed with me then and actually forgot she was in there with me until I was awakened at 6:30 by a crying Aaron. He was soaking wet and thankfully seems to have gone back to sleep because a day starting at 6:30 with him would not be a good thing!! Thankfully I managed to sneak out of bed without waking Lilah! :) So yes, we're making progress. Something that gave me a kick in the pants was that my Facebook status from a year ago said, "Aaron slept from 8pm-2:40am and then from 3-7am!" I thought, "WOW! I thought Aaron wasn't the best sleeper...Lilah NEEDS to be doing better!" Time to stop being so lazy and work on her night time sleep so I can get more sleep!

Monday, August 29, 2011

If I were sleeping, I'd be dreaming of sleep!

My baby girl is NOT the greatest sleeper in the world. I sometimes wonder, did I just get lousy sleepers (other than Luke) or is it something I'm doing wrong?!?! Lilah is almost 11 weeks old, and the longest stretch of sleep she's had to date has only been slightly over 3 hours. I put her to bed (as usual) around 8pm last night...and by just after 10, right when I was FINALLY climbing into bed, I saw arms flailing in the crib. Have I mentioned I really don't enjoy sharing a room with a baby? She had unswaddled herself. I re-swaddled her, nursed her and put her to bed. 5 minutes later, she's grunting and fussing. I got her up, nursed her again and put her back in bed. FINALLY, at 11pm, I went to bed. Aaron wakes at 1am for a bottle--I have to go potty anyway, so rather than wake Jeremy up, who, incidentally, fell PROMPTLY to sleep at 10pm, I get up to get his bottle. 2am, she's awake again. I don't even bother to nurse her...what's the point of sitting up for another 30 minutes to an hour at this hour when I FINALLY went to sleep 3 hours ago?!?! I bring her to bed with me. We sleep for a while...until I decide to get comfortable. My movement wakes her up and she starts grunting/fussing. I turn over and nurse her again and succumb to sleeping on my side and trying to ignore the ache that's starting in my hips and back. I don't know how many times this happened...I think she slept reasonably well--it seems that the more tired I get, the less I realize that I'm really uncomfortable. Aaron woke up at 6:45am. Quite early for him...he's teething, plus he DID have his bottle at 1am! I give him his bottle (what's left of it) and he is quiet. There is really no point of TRYING to sneak back into bed, amazingly Lilah did NOT wake up when I got up...so I come downstairs to at least enjoy some coffee and computer time while it's quiet--and to try to figure out what in the world I'm going to do about getting Lilah to sleep better...shouldn't we be well on our way to sleeping thru the night by this point?? At least sleeping in a couple of large chunks? Sleeping in her OWN bed would be fantastic! Oh, did I mention that her naps are rarely more than 45 minutes too? Unless, of course, it's in her swing. I'm sure all of this is related and I'm perpetuating the problem...but at 2am, all I want is sleep...no matter how lousy it is...I take solace in the fact that in approximately 9-10 months, she will probably be sleeping mostly through the night. *sigh*

Wednesday, August 24, 2011

My Boys...**Caution: Photo Blitz**















Aaron LOVES Lilah!

Aaron was filthy dirty. He likes to eat dirt.



Even though he was filthy dirty, he still wanted to show his little sissy a little love.



As usual, he got a little overly exuberant with his "love".



Lilah was not feeling the love!



Who? Me?


Bro's

Brothers are so wonderful, and there is nothing quite like the bond between brothers. They love each other soooooo much...





And NEVER think of doing ANYTHING unkind toward each other...



There is always something interesting going on when you've got a brother around...



And sometimes you just have to accept that they can sometimes be a little pesky!



The Many Faces of Lilah Troyer










Single Parenting is for the Birds.




Jeremy had his last night of watch this evening. It was more stressful than usual because he didn't come home when he was "supposed" to, so I was outside way too late with the children, which meant that we had 2 SCREAMING babies while I was trying to bathe them and get everything done. He still was not home when Aaron was losing it and in NEED of bed. I did what I had to do, and what I usually do when I'm home alone--I go to my big helpers. I tell you, if I didn't have my older children, this would be far more difficult. Yes, it'd be easier in some ways because I wouldn't have 3 other children to care for...but honestly, the help my girls offer is priceless. I swaddled Lilah and handed her, screaming, to Savannah. Savannah got a pacifier and by the time I got Aaron settled, she had her sleeping in her arms. I went to take her to bed and Savannah said, "Oh, don't take her yet, she's so cute!". I think it's so absolutely precious how my children love each other...and how the girls care for the babies. By the way, I was informed that I gave credit to Savannah for diapering and jammy-ing Aaron the other night, when it was in fact Abby who did it. Impressive!! Especially for a 7 year old! :) I'm so proud of my girls. I know it's hectic and crazy, but all I can think is: they will be so well prepared for when they have children of their own. They already know how to care for babies a lot better than most young ladies who are having children. As crazy as this life can be, and as frazzled as I get sometimes...my children don't seem to mind. They just roll with it. It's such a blessing that God gives them the ability to cope with all of this craziness because they don't know any different...but even better is that they seem to love it. Very few things make me happier than when they tell me that they want to have lots of children when they grow up...because then I know that their lives aren't so bad after all! :)

Friday, August 19, 2011

So maybe I'm not as light a sleeper as I once thought!

Having children has turned me into a deeper sleeper, apparently. Not only was my car stolen out of my driveway while I slept...my baby was also snatched out of my arms while I slept--by her daddy, of course! She was not settling and grunted and carried on from around 5am on. I was almost ready to give up and get up with her, but it was still a bit early (around 7am), so I unswaddled her, let her "play" and rolled over and tried to go back to sleep. And sleep I did. I woke up at 8am and about had a heart attack when I looked over and Lilah was not there!! Man, what a way to start the day! It only took me a second to realize what happened, but it sure scared me! I guess when you're tired, you're tired! Jeremy was making fun of me saying, "I thought you were like a Momma bear...and you just let me snatch her right out of your arms!" I think if it were anyone other than Jeremy, I would have noticed--at least I hope so!

My Children are Such a Blessing!

Tonight Jeremy is working. I really don't like this schedule, and I really should be in bed...but alas, the quiet evening calls to be enjoyed! So when he works, he leaves at the crack of dawn--before 5am, works all day, spends the night at work and then works the next day until 6:30pm. He gets home that day at 7:30-ish, just in time to help me with baths and bedtime--very much wanted and needed after the night before doing it alone. Well, I can't really say I do it "alone". My children are such wonderful helpers. Tonight all 4 of the "older" ones bathed together. They played house and pretended that Luke and Aaron were the babies. Savannah bathed Aaron, put his diaper and jammies on him and got him all ready for bed. Once he was ready for me, she took Lilah from me and held her while I put Aaron to bed. I get asked quite often how I do it with all 5 of them, but honestly, it's so much easier now than it was when there were only 2 of them. Yes, there is more work now--especially laundry--but with 2 big helpers, things go so much faster and more smoothly. Luke is even getting in on the action and is quickly becoming my dedicated vacuum-operator! He did the stairs the other day nearly PERFECTLY! Tomorrow he will be vacuuming out the car. He really enjoys using the vacuum!

The girls had the privilege of going to Discovery Kingdom today with our friends. It was nice to have some special time with Luke and Aaron (Lilah still sleeps a lot). I was hoping to have a bit more time one on one with Luke, but Aaron decided not to nap well today. Oh well. I took LOTS of pictures today of my precious boys, so I'll post soon...but probably not until Jeremy gets back home and I have a bit more back-up, but we'll see...maybe I can get it done tomorrow! Okay, my bed is calling...I'm hoping Lilah sleeps well tonight...last night she went from 10pm until 3:30am without waking...unfortunately, she was in bed with me, but hey...I was able to stretch out and sleep well, so I can't complain!

Monday, August 15, 2011

My Big Girls

Just being cute & silly...



This is Savannah wearing Daddy's clothes...


2 & 14 Months! :)

My babies are getting bigger by the second! This photo of Lilah was taken a week or so ago, so I DO need a more recent one...but this one of Aaron was tonight, when I decided to give him an early bath so I didn't have to juggle 2 baths with Daddy not here tonight. I tell ya, I'm going to be VERY happy when Jeremy is home EVERY night again. This kind of schedule is for the birds!



Not my PREFERRED way of cooking...




...but a Momma's gotta do what a Momma's gotta do! Rather than get caught up in cooking, I decided to get them involved, which is wonderful with a 4 year old, not so much with a 1 year old! :) It was going great until he decided to take a bite of a tomato and then throw it into the muffin batter. Hmmmm...

And the finished product....very tasty!

Sunday, August 14, 2011

I want to post...but....

I'm just SO busy these days. There is very little time for the computer, well...little time that can be spent using my brain. Usually if I'm able to be online, either it's late, or I'm nursing...and I really don't feel like doing a blog post with one hand, that'd take forever!

I've started cooking and baking more because I've issued myself a challenge: I'm going to try to feed my family on $400 or less for the next 30 days. I have quite a bit of food in the freezer and pantry, so I'm kinda cheating, but I'm really working on cutting back on packaged food and cooking more from scratch. Yes, it's wonderful, healthier and less expensive, but it also takes a lot more time. I think once I get a system and get some big things out of the way (big batches of soup and breads), I'll have a bit more time. I'm currently looking for good time and money saving tips to help MY family. There are a lot of great ideas out there, but not everything works for every family.

I've discovered Pinterest.com. Wow, there are a LOT of wonderful ideas and recipes on there....and thankfully it's something I CAN do one-handed! :)

Aaron is officially a toddler...walking most of the time. It's SO cute! Lilah is smiling like crazy all of the time...not sleeping very well though. She's in bed with me for most of the night which I do NOT love. I have to keep reminding myself that she's only 8 weeks old (well, 2 MONTHS old tomorrow!), and she'll figure it out. And on that note, I'm off to bed to hopefully sleep without her for a while.

Wednesday, August 10, 2011

8 weeks old!

Lilah is 8 weeks old today and making strides!! Today I put her on her tummy on the floor and she rolled over! I thought it was a fluke, so I turned her back over again and she did it again! She is SUCH a strong little girl. Then I put her in her bouncy chair and she reached up and pulled the little toy that plays music. It was pretty amazing. She's looking more like a baby and less like a newborn.

Saturday, August 6, 2011

When it rains, it pours.

My goodness! I've been to the doctor 6x in the past week now. Lilah just finished antibiotics for her cough. They worked WONDERS and it's all gone--praise God! :) Aaron is still being treated for thrush, but now he's got this crazy mystery rash. It is all around his mouth and look HORRID...especially now that it's become impetigo. The doctor has no idea what the original rash is...we were thinking hand foot and mouth, but it's all over and he doesn't act sick. Then she said perhaps chicken pox, but again, no sickness and the rash is at different stages on his body. She said she thinks it's some kind of viral rash, but it has probably become worse with the impetigo and of course he has the thrush because his immune system is struggling for some reason. The funny thing is that he's been more cheerful and wonderful than usual lately--talking up a storm and walking everywhere. He's been saying, "Abby" a lot and the other day he crawled up to me and said, "Hello!" in the cutest voice! He's such a little doll. I'll have to get a photo of this rash though, it's really quite funky. I just keep praying that no one else gets it and that it's nothing serious. We missed out on a visit with my brother and his family (the last visit for at least 5 weeks while he goes to school), so I'm quite bummed about that...but we just really didn't want to share cooties. It seems like lately, every time Jeremy is home, I'm off at the doctor's office. We avoided the doctor for quite a long while, I'd like to go back to that again soon, please?!?!