Tonight's the night

So tonight's the night. Write it down in the baby book. No more up every hour. No more feedings all night long. I can't do it anymore, I have been preparing myself for this day awhile now. Reading the books about letting a baby 'cry it out'.
I wanted to make sure I knew exactly how long to wait, how many times to go back in, everything because this Is my chance to do it the week before Josh comes home. As Kales 6 months now and the doctor gave me the go ahead today at his check up.

The night began just like normal, bath time, stories to follow and a little playtime before Kale drifted off to sleep. ( that's never the hard part, it comes about an hour and half later when Kale wakes up, starting a trend ranging from every hour to every other hour ).
It happens right in the middle of American Idol, at first I don't hear it, I just see the red light flicker on the monitor and my heart sinks. 169 nights I have done this alone, heard the first cry and I know I'm in for a long night. Wishing I could just snap my fingers and be able to crawl into bed and drift off into 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep.
But it's not going to happen that easily, but it will start tonight. As I walk my tried little body up the stairs I can start to hear Kales cries, coming from the monitor that's on in my bedroom. I take a deep breath and enter his room. Patting his back and putting the pacifier back in and I slip out. This continues over the next hour. The whole house is filled with cries because there is a monitor on upstairs and downstairs.

Finally Kale drifts off into sleep again and I head to the bedroom where I find Kingston in the corner, head down and tail tucked...so scared he peeped all over the place. I guess apparently I should have informed him that we were doing this tonight, guess Kingston wasn't ready yet!

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Tea Time

One of my mommy groups met up on Tuesday down at Town Square at a English Tea room. 10 women 10 babies, and it worked!

Town Square is one of my favorite spots in Las Vegas, I just wish it was closer to our house. There's outside shopping, every kind of store, tons of restaurants, and they have a huge playground and water park in the middle for kids to run around in! It's amazing!
I will be taking advantage of the spring weather at Town Square these next two months!

Moving Foward

I was driving today to meet up with one of my mommy groups. I was headed to a place called Town Square, a fun outside shopping area located in southwest Las Vegas. Kale was snug in his car seat in the backseat and I had the music playing softly. I was thinking to myself how lucky I am to be making so many friends so easily and how I am really starting to love Las Vegas…I was also thinking…HONK!!!!! I snap back to what is going on around me, HONK, traffic all over the place in every direction. People crossing the street at all different locations and the taxi drivers are angry and are showing their aggression through their only source of outlet…the horn. Then it hits me, I am a local just driving to meet up with some friends for tea though at the same time I am driving through the heart of Las Vegas, The Strip. Hundreds of thousands of people descend on Las Vegas this time of year, for the great weather, spring break destination, and the March Madness gambling and betting. I couldn’t help but smile. Because at the same time last year I would have been driving in the dark cold, snow six feet, trying to keep my eyes peeled open in case a moose decided he wanted to jump out in front of my car. So you tell me which of the two sounds more normal?

Tried to snap a quick photo and not kill somebody with my car at the same time. Well didn't kill anybody but the photo didn't come out too good.

Direct TV

This was the first time Josh had been deployed, so we were really learning how things work. Shutting his cell phone service off, putting certain unities on hold while I was staying with family. It was just a huge learning experience. It’s not a typical job where somebody packs up their life and leaves for half of a year. Coming back to Las Vegas I had to start up our life again, turning on the water, gas, direct TV and other services. Of course with EVERY since company there was an issue, and it didn’t help that Josh was overseas, 12 hours ahead and just unable to help out. One by one I checked each services off the list, 30 mins on hold was a typical daily activity. And each day another person came to the house starting something up. Well it came to direct TV and of course there was something wrong with the bill that I had received in the mail. I took a deep breath, and thought to myself this will get figured out. So, like I did with all the others, I sent Josh an email just informing him that there was a problem but I would try to sort it out the next day. Well just as I hit the sent button and started to begin to look up the direct TV phone number for customer service my phone “dinged” informing me of an email.

“Hey Babe, I got your email about Direct TV, I contacted them and got it all figured out, everything should be good. Love you”

Well I guess we can all see that even if deployed in Afghanistan nobody was going to mess with Josh’s Direct TV…humm..…...men....

Mommy Group

I have been meeting up with this great mommy group. Started out when we were all pregnant and now we are still going strong with the babies. We get together at parks, out for lunches, movie nights at someone’s houses, and even a mommy night out with just the girls. Which I am waiting on Josh to get home to make it to one of those. I was always a little unsure of “mommy groups”, but it helps to look at other women, all different ages and different spots in their lives. Some have a huge career, some stay at home moms. And I have found a common thread…a little 12 pound baby changes everything and all rules are thrown out the window. The cold hard honest truth is, nobody really knows what they are doing, it’s a journey and we are figuring out how to be the best mommy’s along the way. So get together with some great ladies, make new friends, and laugh a lot!

This was taken at our "potluck picnic" last week. Theres about 30 mommy's total ranging from being still pregnant to have a 1 year old.

Name Game

"KINGSTON! Stop it"

"KINGSTON! Get down!"

"KINGSTON! No licking the baby"

Whoa if I had a dollar every time that I screamed at my dog Kingston then I could probably afford doggy training classes by now. Our lovable flurry ball has so much energy coming in on year two. Between his daddies leaving for deployment, moving home to Florida for 3 months living with the grandparents he really thinks he can get away with anything now. I am truly afraid that Kale's first word will be Kingston or that later on in life when he hears the word Kingston he will get a sudden feeling of discipline, like he has done something wrong. The next dog we get I will try to name it something like "Love You”,"Hello" that way when I am screaming at the dog it will sound something more like...

"LOVE YOU! No licking the baby."

Single Rider

I have been on 11 planes in two years, and felt like it was finally time to do a blog about one of my many travel experiences. All 11 flights I have been a single rider. It’s kind of like being a single rider on a rollercoaster, you never know who your going to get stuck next to. And I always get stuck sitting next to the “Name talker”. Now if your anything like my dad, you dread sitting next to the mom with the infant, or the fat man, or even the old person that has the cold. And on southwest flights everybody is scoping each other out outside the gate. Thinking in your head who you’re hoping that you’re not sitting next to. I have come to appreciate the chance to sit next to all those rejects; I am on the lookout for a totally different breed, what I like to call the “Name talker”. They come in all shapes and sizes, all ages groups; they are almost like a wildcard, which makes them extremely hard to spot before hand. They are the person that sits down next to you on the plane and the conversation goes something like this; Name Talker sits down. No conversation, they don’t even say hi. You both start to adjust seat belts and start looking at a magazine. Your thinking to yourself, “wow this is great I am going to have a nice quiet flight and get some sleep”.

Name Talker:“I am going to visit Jason and Katie; I hope they know what time I arrive”

Me: (in my head) what is she talking about, does she have a blue tooth in?

Name Talker: “Katie told me to fly in on Saturday because it works with her schedule better and the kids will be out of school by the time I get there.”

Me: (in my head) is she talking to me? Who the heck is Katie?

Name Talker: “It will be great though because since the accident I haven’t spent anytime Megan and Tom”

Me: (In my head) Okay now there’s a Megan and Tom, who are these people and why does she assume I know her life like she’s a Kardashian sister

.

Name Talker: “Isn’t that exciting? Wow you sure are quiet.”

Me: “Yes that’s great, I am sure Katie is totally on top of when to pick you up, and I hope that you guys have great weather and can get out some night with Megan and Tom.

Name Talker: (Takes a long pause and then continues) “Yes that would be great”

It is like improve at 30,000 feet; these people sit down and don’t give you any background information to go off of. Not the normal “this is where I’m headed, this is what I do for a living”, nothing. They just sit down and it’s like you have opened a book and just start reading in the middle of the random page you land on. COME ON PEOPLE!

3 NOs turn into the 3 Yes's

All soon to be mommies have many sleepless nights, staying up picturing in their heads how they are going to be the perfect mother. What they will DO and what they will definitely NOT DO. How they hope their child will be athletic, or have the perfect hair, or love playing outside. Whatever the mommies imagine it all goes out the window when they give birth to their beautiful baby.
I was really open to whatever my baby will want to do in life, sports or a cook it really didn’t matter to me. Though there were 3 things that I knew I wasn’t going to do or allow while my child was a baby.

1. No pacifiers
2. No running around in diapers
3. No sleeping in the bed

Simple enough right? I kind of have a theory now that the things you say NO to before your child has been born will come back a million times stronger. There are three things that I LIVE BY now…

1. Pacifier aka “binky” at all times, I have a million of them, ten in the crib, five in the diaper bag, and seven in the car. I can’t shove them into Kales mouth fast enough. Something that I was so strong about, and now I can’t remember life without these little plastic miracles! True life savers.
2. I never understood why mothers let their baby hang out in diapers. I mean after all for about 9 months I folded and refolded all the cute baby clothes that I had acquired. I couldn’t wait to dress Kale, so why would I ever let him hangout in white pampers when he can be wearing Gap jeans, and a matching t-shirt and bib. Let me tell you what I have discovered, those mommies who let their babies hang out in diapers probably had babies like Kale…throwing up EVERYWHERE all day long. And when Kale has thrown up on his third outfit of the day and I have yet to get to the laundry…he’s hanging out in the diaper!
3. This third point is really cut and dry. Haven’t slept in five months…so the baby sleeps with me in the bed. Take it or leave it, but this has become a way of life…or at least until Josh has returned from deployment.

So my basic point to the prego mommies out there, stop thinking about what will be and get some sleep!!!

Sleepy Town

Most people talk about wanting their newborn babies to sleep through the night & somewhere between 7 weeks and two months this just happens for them. And then there are people like me...

Who wanted their newborn to sleep at night...which never happened
Who wanted their 1 month old to sleep through the night..which never happened
Who wanted their 2 month old to sleep through the night..which never happened
Who wanted their 3 month old to sleep through the night..which never happened
Who wanted their 4 month old to sleep through the night.which never happened
Who wanted their 5 month old to sleep through the night..which never happened

This just wasn’t going to happen for Kale and myself, and I will skip all the details about everything I tried so please skip feeling like you have to share the perfect thing that WORKED on your child. Because trust me I have tried it all, and if I haven’t then keep it to yourself anyways.

So I realized that I was just going to have to turn off the monitor at night, close my eyes and sleep...and Kale would just have to learn to do the same if he was clean, fed, and in his crib. This was just going to have to happen this way.

“Wow” you are saying to yourself, “She is really going to trust not hearing her baby on the monitor for 8-12 hours at night”.
I then look at you puzzled, “I thought sleeping through the night was two hours”…