I haven't had time for blogging, and feel like December was a blur of sleeplessness, but I don't want to forget some of the highlights of December 2011.
- Decorating the house for Christmas. I felt overwhelmed with the thought, but the kids were so excited. I let them decorate the tree all by themselves, as well as the rest of the house. I did get out only about half the Christmas decorations as we normally do though!
- Decorating the Gingerbread House. Uncle Dan brought the kids a gingerbread house this year. They put the whole house together, but when it came time to put all the candy on, the house collapsed. The frosting just wasn't strong enough....much to the delight of the kids! First year they didn't have to wait till Christmas Eve to eat it :)
- Family Christmas movie night. We made pizzas, ate lots and lots of Christmas cookies and watch Home Alone 3. A perfect family night.
- Hot chocolate and candy canes.
- Aspen's school Christmas program.
- Journey's ballet recital.
- Slumber party at Grammi and Papa's house. Grammy and Papa surprised us by putting on a slumber party for all the grandkids the first weekend of Christmas break. They went all out by planning games for the kids to play - "tasty test" and bean bag toss. Taking them hot tubbing. Watching Christmas movies, and setting up a tent in the living room for Aspen, Journey and Peyton to sleep in together.
- Baking Christmas cookies for Homeless Christmas party put on by My Father's Heart. I felt challenged this year to give in such a way that it would be a sacrifice or that it would cost me. As I thought about it, I realized that this year, giving of my time is the biggest sacrifice for me. I am still adjusting to having 4 small kids, including a nursing newborn, and time is something I feel like I don't have enough of! The kids, Mark and I all worked together to make and frost 3 batches of sugar cookies and 2 batches of gingerbread for the party.
- Christmas dinner out with all my brothers, sister and the husband/wives. While the kids were having their sleep-over, Charity suggested that we all go out to dinner together. We went out to a Thai restaurant in Gresham and then came to our house for drinks and dessert. It was a lot of fun. The guys played Wii games and the girls hung out and talked. Teague was the only kid, and he was a perfect baby!
- Christmas Eve at Lisa's
- A relaxed Christmas morning at home as a family, then to Grammy and Papa's for the rest of the day.
- Going up to Nana & Papa's after Christmas for 2 days.
- Going to the beach for the rest of Christmas break and New Years. Dan, Troy and Kirstyn came down to the beach with us for a couple days. We had so much fun hanging out, and it was a great way to relax and spend time as a family.
Monday, January 9, 2012
Sunday, January 1, 2012
Life right now..
Teague is 8 weeks old, and such a little sweety. From the day he was born, he has been very quiet and laid back. He very rarely cries, unless he wants to eat or be held, or if he's tired and wants to be put down. He does well in the baby swing and likes the Bjorn. I haven't worked on putting him on a schedule other than to try to bring his bedtime down to 7:30 (like the rest of the kids), but he seems to be naturally falling into somewhat of one. Right now, I feed him for the last time before bed around 7:15 or 7:30 (after putting the other kids to bed), and he will sleep until midnight or 1:30. He is generally up every 3 hours after that. Some mornings he is ready to be up around 6:45 or 7, but there are others where he will sleep in till around 8am. He will stay awake for a while, then go back to sleep. So far, he will sleep anywhere. In the swing, his carseat or his crib. I haven't had to do any sleep training (like I did the other kids) to get him to nap putting him down while he is still awake.
Teague slept for almost the first 4 weeks straight. I would have to work so hard every evening to keep him awake or tire him out. Almost every evening I would give him a bath. Evenings were the hardest because as soon as I would put him down to sleep, he would wake up. Both Mark and I would go up to his room multiple times every night to put the binky back in his mouth before he would stay asleep for his "long stretch" of around 4 hours. This was the time of day where I was most tired and so ready for a little break before going to bed myself.
At 4 weeks, Teague started to wake up a little more, and I noticed that he started having some of the same reflux symptoms as Willow did. I could hear the milk come up his throat and he would gasp and choke on it, often waking him up or keeping him from going to sleep. I started him on the same meds as Willow, and that helped a lot. As of now, I've had him weaned off the medication for the past 2 weeks. He doesn't have the severe symptoms that Willow did, and as long as I stay away from most dairy, he does ok. He is very congested, and I'm wondering if the dairy I do still eat has anything to do with that.
Journey is absolutely in love with Teague. She loves to "hold him like a mommy" and is very protective of him around other people. Right now, Aspen and Journey fight over who gets to have him lay with them in bed while Mark and I get everyone down for the night. He will talk and smile at them. It's such a sweet time of the day. I love seeing them talk to him and love on him.
Teague slept for almost the first 4 weeks straight. I would have to work so hard every evening to keep him awake or tire him out. Almost every evening I would give him a bath. Evenings were the hardest because as soon as I would put him down to sleep, he would wake up. Both Mark and I would go up to his room multiple times every night to put the binky back in his mouth before he would stay asleep for his "long stretch" of around 4 hours. This was the time of day where I was most tired and so ready for a little break before going to bed myself.
At 4 weeks, Teague started to wake up a little more, and I noticed that he started having some of the same reflux symptoms as Willow did. I could hear the milk come up his throat and he would gasp and choke on it, often waking him up or keeping him from going to sleep. I started him on the same meds as Willow, and that helped a lot. As of now, I've had him weaned off the medication for the past 2 weeks. He doesn't have the severe symptoms that Willow did, and as long as I stay away from most dairy, he does ok. He is very congested, and I'm wondering if the dairy I do still eat has anything to do with that.
Journey is absolutely in love with Teague. She loves to "hold him like a mommy" and is very protective of him around other people. Right now, Aspen and Journey fight over who gets to have him lay with them in bed while Mark and I get everyone down for the night. He will talk and smile at them. It's such a sweet time of the day. I love seeing them talk to him and love on him.
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