Parenting Win

Today I really felt like a parenting champion. 

I wanted to run through the house high-fiving people.

I think I may have fist pumped…while whispering "boo-yah" 

(yes, I celebrate 90's style)

I even snapped a picture of my moment of glory.

THAT, THAT is a baby who got to STAY asleep/let me eat lunch/ let me get ready for work/ let me pack the car all because I didn't have to wake him up to put him in his crib (where his monitor is). 

Why? 

I facetimed my iPad with my phone.

I thought I was just soooooo smart.

You know what- I STILL do.

So what if it took me 7 months to think of this? 

So what if he was asleep in our bed instead of his crib (naughty, naughty: I know)?

So what if the lunch I ate was super-unhealthy chicken quesidillas?

(I got them at dinner with friends, and those calories don't count…neither do the margaritas)

So what if I didn't have time to pump a bottle for him to have while I worked? 

also known as

So what if my boobs explode because I might not get a plan period to pump when I get to work?

So what if I had to leave him in pj's to go to Nanas?

So. Freaking. What?

I could have NEVER thought to do that.

I could have missed getting an hour long nap because I tried to get him into the crib.

I could have not gotten to eat lunch at all!

I could have had to go to work unshowered.

I could have woken up earlier to pump, BUT when I got to work I had almost an hour before kids came to my room anyway, so I pumped and my mom came and picked it up. 

I mean, you don't get much fresher than that. 

I did get locked out of the building though…so that was pretty entertaining.

I COULD have gone monitor-less and he COULD have woken up and rolled off the bed.

But I didn't.

Mainly because he rolled himself off the bed LAST week (I feel exactly as awful about it as I should), so he's met his quota.

For life.

I hope.

In 100% unrelated news: THE HOUSE IS DONE!

Some day I will take the time to do before and after pics, but honestly we just spent a whole night putting up one set of curtains while passing the baby back and forth, so I have other things to do.

The jist: 

I love it.

I have no room for any small kitchen appliances (they are all bigger than you think)

Most our furniture was scratched in the move.

A ton of our stuff will still need to stay in storage- mainly because I have hoarding tendencies and can't just get rid of 1 of my 5 sets of mixing bowls or one of my 8 cookie sheets. 

The "projects still to do list" is a lot longer than any of us would care to admit.

But I love it anyway.

It already feels kind of like home- and we haven't even moved in yet.

Crib Victory

Today, more technically last night, was our first parenting win.

Pretty much everything else has been Eli driven.

Getting him to sleep in his crib at nights…that was NOT on Eli's to do-list.

We struggled.

We fought the man…and the man won.

It was becoming PAINFULLY clear that Eli needed to stop sleeping in his rock-n-play next to our bed.

How?

Well, he would put his arms on either side and sit himself up.

Oh, and he was too long for it.

We tried to transition him to the crib- but he was NOT having it. 

We spent one night up until 2am doing the crib-scream tango.

It goes like this:

Nurse.

Fall asleep in moms arms.

Carried into nursery (still sleeping)

Lay in crib gingerly

Scream bloody murder.

Get picked up and instantly fall back asleep.

Get laid back in crib gingerly.

Scream bloody murder.

Repeat.

Finally give up and (gasp!) let him sleep in bed with us. 

He would fall asleep within seconds.

We tried warmer pj's

We tried swaddling again.

We tried a warm rice bag to simulate us.

We bought new (warmer) crib sheets.

We slept on the crib sheets so they would have our smell.

We moved the night light.

We tried keeping one hand on him.

We tried all the sound machine settings AND volumes

We tried putting him in after 5 minutes of sleep, then 10, then 15, one time we even waited 40 minutes to be sure he was GOOD and asleep. (yes, he still woke up INSTANTLY when he touched the mattress)

At one point I even considered getting IN the crib with him.

These all sound like silly gimmicks, but when you hear what worked you are going to roll your eyes.

Guess,

Go ahead, guess.

See if you are the ultimate parenting guru.

Got it in your head?

Ok, what finally worked?

I rolled him on his side.

Simple as that.

Out he went.

He had slept on his back in the rock-n-play AND when he was in bed with us, so I just assumed that was how I should have him in the crib.

I was wrong.

And LAST NIGHT, oh yes, LAST NIGHT he slept in his crib all night (not slept through the night, but slept IN HIS CRIB)

Winning.

Weekend Adventures

We got bundled up for a football game Friday night.

(after Rico bought our appliances for the new house…it's coming people!)

Saturday, while he worked on the house, I went with my sister and mom to a craft show at her friend's house. We ended up back at my sister's house for a play date with Eli's cousin Lizzie

I realize this is blurry, but I think my sister looks super classy and pretty with her little pregnant self so I am putting it in

There was hugging

 …and hanging

 and general climbing on Ashley's lap. 

Because she's the coolest.

Sunday we went to Exploration Place (it was free admission for veteran's day)

Most of the things were for older kids, which we expected, but Eli was alert and interested the ENTIRE time. We even sat through a science show and he was SUCH a good student.

Here's a long trough of little recycled materials turned into fake sand (meant to show how rivers from and cut through land), but to Eli it was just more sensory play.

We also went to a beautiful wedding reception sans Eli. I even showered AND curled my hair but somehow we didn't get any pictures. Maybe some will surface later.

Hallo-WEEK

As promised…Hallo-WEEK

He started AND ended the week as an Elephant. 

The week before Halloween our church had a Trunk-or-Treat. 

It was 90 degrees. 

Not kidding, that was the actual temperature.

He was hot.

He was also our Little Stinker (a Skunk), which is even better because one of my VERY favorite books to read him is one from a past co-worker called "I Love You Stinky Face". 

 Sometimes Eli wore his costume all day. Like when he was superman

At a downtown coffee shop

At Walmart, where he had his first sit in the cart experience (instead of being worn). He thought it was AWESOME, especially when I ran down the aisle so his cape could fly. There was a lot of giggling.

 To lunch with dad at the Old Town Old Chicago

 He also flew

 He loved it.

He peed through the ninja turtle one before we ever even left the house- but here's a picture anyway.

He had a batman day, but for some reason I didn't take pictures of that. 

oops.

Mickey Mouse- he was not a fan. 

Which is fine by me. 

I think Mickey is crack for babies.

 Then it was ACTUAL Halloween, and there was a huge cold front (like ALWAYS), so the Elephant seemed appropriate. First we went to visit his great grandparents.

He got his VERY FIRST treat for trick-or-treat: peach flavored Gerber Puffs. 

He has a couple while we were there. 

What a thoughtful great grandma!

Then we went off to visit the other set of great grandparents (and some great aunts and uncles, and even  Rico's second grade teacher got to hold the baby as he got passed through the crowd at the football game.)

He was quite the hit.

 As you can see…it was very cold.

 Rico finally gave in to my peer pressure and put on the strongman costume I had made him when we got to my parents' house to wrap up our night of trick-or-treating…

but by that time Eli was OUT cold!

We tried to take family photos anyway…

 After making my mom take 27 pictures and the response "Well, the camera never lies" to my comment that I didn't like the last picture because I thought it made me look fat…Rico decided it was in everyone's best interest to take the camera over.

But, not matter who had the camera, this little guy was not having it.

Hallo-WEEK was just too much awesome.

Babbling!

Consonants are here!

Gee…I wonder what his first word is going to be.

We were at my sister's house for a KSU football game and he just started doing this. 

He would stop whenever we tried to get it on video- but we finally tricked him and got this.

It's like he wanted to give her a thank you present for inviting us so he pulled out a new trick.

(That morning Rico and I had been saying "da da da da" or "ma ma ma ma" as he looked at each of us (this went on for almost 15 minutes back and forth) 

He stared,

but he didn't mimic.

We did comment that we felt like we could just see his wheels turning because he was watching us so intently.

My niece is VERY proud of him. 

Apparently she likes to tell everyone how Eli says "dadadadadadada"

and makes them watch the video.

My sister said she has seen the video MANY MANY times.

Adorable.