Big Boy Update!

Ok, here is a "big boy bed" update:

Night #1 Put him to bed in his crib and transferred him over once he fell asleep, he slept until 4am then cried until I put him back in his crib.

Night #2 We transferred him again and he slept until 7:15 the next morning!!

Night #3 We transferred him and he slept until 6am (up 1 hour too early)

Night #4 We decided to put him to bed in his big boy bed to see how it would go, Shawn and I both stalled upstairs thinking we may have to put him back in bed a few times, Shawn put him in bed and he went right to sleep without a sound!

Could it really be this easy!?! I am almost scared to post any of this on here out of fear of jinxing myself. :)

So tomorrow will begin the feat of naptime in our big boy bed. I have not really tried naptime yet because we have had so much going on this week that I did not want to risk him not getting a good nap. We don't really have anything going on tomorrow so I figured it would be a good day to start. His nursery has a roman shade which blocks out most of the sun during the day, but his new room does not have anything on the windows yet so we'll see if that affects us.

Big Boy

Ready or not I put Kallen to bed in his new "big boy" bed tonight. Ok, actually I tried to put him to bed in his new bed and he just cried, so I put him to bed in his crib and once he fell asleep I moved him over. We'll see how our night goes....it makes me a little nervous to think of him wandering around in the dark but I am hoping he'll cry first before he tries to get out of bed.

I didn't really expect this to be an emotional transition, but I have to admit it kind of was. After I moved him over, I glanced back into his nursery and was so sad to see an empty crib. I still feel like it was yesterday that we brought home our tiny little baby and placed him in his crib for the first time! But I guess it really won't be empty for long and "little brother" will be in there....hopefully sleeping the night away!!

Our next step will be naptime tomorrow.....I'll let you know how that goes. :S

Naptime Battles

Kallen and I have recently hit a "rough patch" in our daily schedule. Up until recently his sleeping schedule has been:

• wake up around 7am
• morning nap from 9-11
• afternoon nap from 12:30-3:30
• go to bed anywhere from 7-8pm.

Do you see the, oh so very narrow, gap that left me to go anywhere outside of our house without a cranky child? Most mornings I would just risk it and run around anyways, but never without complete meltdowns at numerous locations. While this schedule made things inconvenient for me- I came to the conclusion that if my child needed that much sleep for a season in his life, then that was something I was willing to work around. So I run most of my errands in the afternoon, and sometimes do what I have to in the mornings.

Last week I started to notice a shift in Kallen's schedule. I knew we were probably at the age where he only needed one nap/day but he was always so cranky without that morning nap, that I just let him have it. Last week his morning naps started to get shorter, and shorter, and on top of that he began to fight his afternoon naps. I would try to put him down after lunch like I normally do but he would stand in his crib and cry and cry until finally after 45min-an hour I would finally go get him. The results were usually a very cranky boy and mommy for the rest of the afternoon. By 6:30 he would be ready for bed and it was all I could do to get him to make it to 7. I reached my limit when yesterday he decided he didn't need to nap at all. Our entire day yesterday was basically a battle of the wills- Mommy vs. Kallen- and unfortunately Kallen won. :S By the time I had to go to work last night I was completely exhausted, our house was a disaster (when Kallen is tired he gets super destructive), and by the time Shawn got him Kallen was so tired he was crying about everything. I spent most of last night thinking, and flipping through a couple parenting magazines and I came up with a game plan.

#1.) I absolutely will NOT go get Kallen in the mornings until he is happily jabbering in his crib. (usually he wakes up crying at 7 and I rush in to get him) This morning he cried from 7-7:30 and by the time I walked in to get him at 7:45 he was in the best mood, just talking to his fish by his bed and smiling!!

#2.) No matter how grouchy he is, I will not let him take a morning nap!! (This may mean a rather challenging morning for me, but I really think it will pay off in the end) I started this today, and our morning went suprisingly well and Kallen is happily snoozing in his crib right now!! :)

This is probably something I should have done a while ago, but I'll blame my pregnancy on the fact that recently I just have not had the energy to fight Kallen on things. This needs to end because he definitely does NOT need to be the one running this household!! Anyways- I am excited about our new schedule! Plus I think it will work out nicely when little brother gets here in just 8 more weeks!

Go Cyclones!!

Little Gentleman

We tried on Kallen's tux that he'll be wearing for my sister's wedding in a few weeks. I couldn't believe how old it made him look! And it's funny- we really didn't make a big deal about it but once we got all the layers on Kallen's entire demeanor changed. It's like he knew he was wearing something special.

Ok, tell me that's not ADORABLE!!!
He will be one of 3 little ringbears being pulled in a wagon right during naptime. Wish us luck!! :P

Bad Cook

Do you cook for your family? This is something I am really struggling with. I actually really do like to cook- but I get so bored with cooking the same things all the time and lately I have absolutely no ambition to actually look up something new and different.
During swim season the only times we are together as a family is on the weekends (other than an occasional rare evening during the week). I think that is what is fueling my lack of motivation....what's the point in cooking when it is just Kallen and I?? That and the fact that all I ever want to eat these past few weeks is a bowl of cereal.
So I usually try to come up with something half way healthy for Kallen, I happily pour my bowl of cereal, and my poor husband is left taking hot pockets for lunch everyday and to be honest most of the time I have no idea what he does for supper.
I need a personal meal planner: someone who plans out my meals for the month, writes me a grocery list, and then all I have to do is follow the menu! Yes, I realize this is something I could easily do my self but let's face it- I'm just not going to. So until I find some motivation somewhere, I am going to keep on eating my bowls of cereal and my poor husband will still be fending for himself. (sorry honey :S )