All the Sun For You

A mom, two boys, a husband, and a whole lot of adventure!

Category Archives: Sleep


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Bedhead

Matthew had a rough nap today, as evidenced by his hair when he woke up.  😉  Seriously, this boy’s hair lays so perfect most of the time, and he has NEVER had “bedhead.”  I have expected him to have some difficult hair every once in a while given the fact that we keep his hair pretty short and trimmed, and he has a LOT of it.  Matthew’s hair is THICK.

I thought he looked so cute with his “bedhead” today, that I didn’t even try to fix it.  He looked like a bona-fide little boy, rather than a toddler.  A little surreal, but sweet!  We took him out to the mall and to dinner with his sloppy hairdo, and I loved it!  I finally took a photo at dinner because it was still standing on end.  HA!

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I paid for this photo with his screams for me to give him my phone once he saw it out. I did not relent! Thirty seconds later, Matthew did relent. Score one for the tough mama!

One of these days, I’ll get around to writing a real post – you know – one with substance?  We’ve had a rough week that started out with a poor decision on my part to take Matthew to his favorite lunch spot (Chipo.tle) and get him mild salsa with peppers, along with his favorite guac in the whole wide world.  I will never get him that salsa again – the guac is fine and he can handle that, but that alone.  That stupid salsa set him, and his naps, back for two damned days.  We were both crying in the afternoon after a short, 45 minute nap.  The next day was not much better – a 1.5 hour nap and tears as he woke up again.  Geesh!  I’m happy to report that yesterday was blessed with a BEAUTIFUL 2.6 hour nap and the last two nights, he’s slept well over 11 hours.  My sanity has returned.

Now, if we could just get him to eat something besides fruit, eggs, and string cheese (and Chipot.le, of course) – life would be back to “normal!”

Lunch with Daddy - look at that happiness with his Chipot.le pork, salsa, and guac. We ALL paid for this lunch over and over again. Poor kid!

Lunch with Daddy – look at that happiness with his Chipot.le pork, salsa, and guac. We ALL paid for this lunch over and over again. Poor kid!

Mom trying to salvage a nap. This was heaven, for about 2 minutes at a time before he would scream out in tummy pain. Stupid Chipo.tle salsa!

Mom trying to salvage a nap. This was heaven, for about 2 minutes at a time before he would scream out in tummy pain. Stupid salsa!


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Defeated

I have to admit something today that I have not had to admit yet as a mother.

I admit defeat.

When I posted a while back about the top 10 things that surprise me about myself as a mother, some people mentioned that they don’t have patience and my response was, ‘this could all change tomorrow.’

It changed today.

Matthew is a good boy – a very good boy – but man alive, he woke up before the crack of dawn this morning for no apparent reason.  This would normally not be a big deal because when this (very rarely) happens (5 times since he was 10 months old), we’ve known just what to do and he’s back to sleep in no time.  With the exception of that nasty double ear infection, the other few times he’s woken up have been just brief interruptions to our night.

Not last night.

Matthew woke up just plain mad and standing up in his crib, which cues an immediate dash to his room to try to calm him before he wakes up completely.  Too late.  He wanted to get up.  WHAT?  He pointed at the door and wailed.  I finally hollered over the monitor for B to get us some ibuprofen because what does every good bad mother do when her kid won’t sleep?  Drug ’em!  The firm holler of mine (I had to be firm so that B could hear it over the sound machine – I wasn’t mad) triggered something in Matthew because he just fell quiet immediately.  I was thrilled.  After the ibuprofen, he settled in to sleep.  GREAT!

But he never fell completely asleep.  He cried and tossed all over me every 15 minutes or so.  I didn’t catch a single wink.

I tried putting him in his crib several times to no avail.  So, I brought him into our room and bed.  It seemed like that was going to work but then he freaked out and we were back to his room.  An hour and a half had passed and I was exhausted.  In his room, there were more random fits because I just think he wanted to be up.  I finally changed his diaper (I don’t usually do that because it wakes him completely up – but what the hell because he was obviously completely up?) and that seemed to settle him.  He finally fell asleep around 6:15 and so did I, with him in my arms.  I woke up at 7:30 and put him in his crib while I got the house picked up.  He woke up at 8:10.

I figured the day was salvaged.

But I was tired all day, and he was crabby and fussy.  He fought his nap but then relented and I thought I’d get some sleep.  Wrong.  Just after I fell asleep, my 2-3 hour napper woke up after 1 hour and 20 minutes.  Ready to go again.

I was really upset, to be quite honest.  I almost cried.

But we played and watched CG with Matthew being fussy and crying intermittently the entire time.  I did what I’ve never done out of frustration – I texted B and asked when he would be home.

I had given up.  I was tired.  I was defeated.

Matthew went to sleep just great at 8:10 tonight.  Just like last night.  Let’s hope tonight is better.

Look at that little sweetheart, yelling at me for God-only-knows-what. This was actually taken the other day, but is totally what I witnessed all.day.long today. ;)

Look at that little sweetheart, yelling at me for God-only-knows-what. This was actually taken the other day, but is totally what I witnessed all.day.long today. 😉


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Another List!

Life has been great lately – I feel like things are really going smoothly for me.  My reasons for feeling this way are extremely ridiculous – but I can’t help but feel energized by them:

  1. After months, and MONTHS, of trying to find replacement hair products for my secret weapon product that the manufacturer discontinued (without asking my permission) – I have found them!  I have spent a fortune on multiple products that are sworn to do the same thing as my discontinued product, but none of them do.  All they do is dry out my very fine, flat hair.  I went to Ave.da yesterday to pick up some moisturizer and asked the gal if she had ideas for me (I asked a different gal a month or so ago and she told me I was out of luck).  This gal sold me two things (ugh) and told me precisely what to do with them.  I followed her instructions today and my hair has never looked better – and with half the work I was doing before (no more flat iron!).  HUGE win!
  2. I got new slippers.  I have had the same pair of Ac.orn slippers for a couple of years and although they’re still comfy, they were missing that “walking on clouds” feeling that comes with a new pair of faux fur-lined Ac.orn slipers.  I was at the mall yesterday, on my way out through my favorite outdoor gear store, and thought, “oh – my slippers!”  They had my size, they were on sale – and they were mine!  They’re the wrong color (black = yuck) but I do.not.care.  My feet are warm and comfy (I’m wearing them in bed right now – even though they have soles on them.  HA!).
  3. Maternity clothes.  No – not because of the fit and comfort (but yeah, that too), but because I get to wear my wonderful be.maternity stretchy shirts (from Targ.et) under everything, which means in these winter months, I am sealed up from head to toe now and I’m not cold everywhere I go.  So happy!
  4. Maternity jeans at Ga.p Maternity were $35 a pair at their retail locations.  I needed new ones and stocked up.  I’m so happy!  I couldn’t have gotten them cheaper at cheap maternity stores.  To put the cherry on my sundae, they are the same size as the jeans I bought at Ga.p this past summer when I was smaller than I am now (pre-IVF meds) – so that was nice!
  5. Matthew is sleeping longer these days.  YAY!  We planned our work and worked our plan and we have success!  He slept 11 hours last night and 10.5 the night before.  He is waking up  happy versus crying.  I am sleeping more too which is nice!
  6. We are going to bed WAY earlier than normal.  At 10:00 tonight, I asked B, “ready for bed?”  A week ago, I would not have asked that so early but we’ve been going to bed before 11 each night for a week now and I’m just a lot happier.  Yes, I can function on very little sleep, but more sleep is always better!
  7. My diabetic cat is in a diabetic remission.  Don’t tell the others, but she’s my fave and when she’s sick, I get very sad.  Her behavior was off for a couple of weeks so I decided to get out the glucometer and test her.  Turns out we were giving her too much insulin because she’s in remission.  Since chatting with the vet and dropping the shots for over a week, she’s back to normal and happy.  I’m happy too!  This won’t last forever, and I have to watch her closely – but that’s never been a problem for me.  She and I are almost inseparable (but she was not hanging out with me while being OD’d with insulin which tipped me off).
  8. Matthew is back to eating almost everything we put in front of him.  There isn’t much he won’t eat.  He even loves scallops.  This has made life way easier because he eats what we eat every  night for dinner.  It’s awesome!
  9. I have an old doll from my childhood that we keep in Matthew’s closet.  She looks like a real baby (she’s a hospital mannequin – don’t ask!) and we got her out a couple of years ago to teach B how to diaper a baby.  We just kept her in the closet for whatever reason.  Matthew has found her and now asks, at least once a day, for the baby to come out.  He treats her like a real baby and is very gentle and loving, and tries to hold her like a baby (she weighs 5 pounds so that makes it hard for him).   He was hesitant at first, even though he wanted her out of the closet, and just wanted to look at her.  He now pats her head, touches her nose, kisses her, and strokes her while I hold her.  This makes me think to our future with a big brother and it melts my heart!
  10. I have less than a week’s worth of shots left.  I have 6 left starting tomorrow.  Ahhh… this is so exciting!

 

So there it is – the list that convinces me that things are pretty good right now!  I’m sure things will change tomorrow, now  😉


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Finally!!!!

Matthew only falls asleep in his crib, in my arms, or in his car seat. He’s never fallen asleep on the floor playing, in a jumper, etc. Heck, he won’t even fall asleep in his stroller anymore and hasn’t since he was 10 months old.

But this happened today… And it was as precious as I always imagined it would be! Like Matthew himself, this moment was worth the wait!


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Get Away!

What a weekend!  On Wednesday, we decided we needed to get out of town – we just needed to GO SOMEWHERE.  I suggested Kansas City because, well, I love it there and the last time we headed out of town, we went to Minneapolis so I didn’t want to do that again.  We’ll go to Minneapolis soon enough, I’m sure (I love MSP – I would move there in a heartbeat if B wanted to).

We invited our friends to come with us who have a new baby – and they were itching to go somewhere too so they came down Saturday around noon.  We had a great time!

When B and I travel, most things revolve around food.  We are always looking for some place new to try, and are open to just about anything.  Matthew is open to most foods too, so we’re pretty lucky there.  What Matthew can’t handle, unfortunately, is a long dinner at a quiet restaurant.  So, on Friday night we went across the street from our favorite KC restaurant (too quiet for Matthew!) and had some fancy Mexican food.  I love Mexican food.  I love it more than any other food type in the world.  I cannot get enough of it.  This place did not disappoint.  But – Matthew was a hot mess and tired from the drive down, so we wrapped up pretty quickly and got him back to the hotel for bed.  For some reason, the grilled chicken and superbly cooked veggies weren’t doing it for him (and truly – they were fantastic!).  Sigh.

We did stop at a wine and cheese shop and picked up lots of fancy chocolates (B loves chocolate!) and a bottle of red wine for later.  Matthew enjoyed sampling the cheeses which was nice since he didn’t eat much dinner  😉  B enjoyed picking out chocolates.  I enjoyed just being out on a nice night!

Bedtime went ridiculously well – Matthew only cried for 30 seconds and he was out cold.  We had our chocolate and wine but we feared waking him so we went to bed shortly thereafter.  I think it was the earliest I’ve gone to bed in years (9:40).

Matthew woke up too early on Saturday and wanted to get out and about, so B took him out for coffee so I could sleep a bit.  Matthew was tossing and turning all night long, and being a light sleeper and a nervous mother (I like to be constantly aware of how he’s sleeping), I heard every sigh, flip, and grunt.  I basically had been awake since 4 AM so I welcomed a little extra sleep with great enthusiasm.  I made it count 😉

We shopped and shopped – but really just walked and walked.  It was beautiful in KC and the Plaza is perfect for getting out and about and just enjoying the weather.  I did find some shirts for Matthew that I’ve wanted but refused to pay the ridiculous prices for – but they were on SALE so I got them (it was a crazy sale, ladies)!  We went to our favorite place for lunch (Houston’s) because they have the BEST smoked salmon but what do you know?  They changed the salmon since we were last there and it wasn’t cooked enough for Matthew.  As everyone knows, Matthew LOVES salmon so we were super excited about getting this for him (cold smoked – ummmm!) but alas – we could not.  We ended up getting him tuna (figured we should try it) but he hated it, lost his shit, and we were out of there.

Notice a trend???

I headed out with Matthew as B got our salads boxed up (best salad ever – I am so sad I didn’t get to savor it!) and we went back for a nap.  Our friends weren’t in town yet so the timing was great and I snuggled with my boys.  It does not get better than that!  Matthew slept on my chest and sure – my neck was all screwed up and I didn’t really sleep – but my nose was buried in his sweet hair and I was in heaven!  This nap lasted almost 3 hours.  Wonderful!

We then headed back out with our friends and picked up cupcakes (more on this later), played at a park, and then grabbed a quick early dinner before the rush.  Again, Matthew was not having it so we boxed up his food once we were all done and headed out.

What is going on with this kid who used to love going out to eat???

We all stopped at the wine shop again and got some goodies for the night.  Upon returning to the hotel, we put Matthew to bed (not a peep out of him) and S and I sent our husbands down to the hotel bar with a free pass to stay out as late as they wanted, and to drink as much as they felt the urge to drink.  S and I had a great time sitting on the sofa, dishing about the latest happenings in our lives, eating chocolates and cupcakes, and drinking wine.  B bought me a bottle of bubbly and I drank that whole thing – and didn’t even get tipsy (what is wrong with me – I never drink so this makes no sense?!).  We shared the best cupcake we’d ever had (strawberry lemonade and HOLY HELL it was GOOD!) and I got to hold her new baby the entire time (LOVE!).  The guys came back late and expectedly tipsy.  We all sat around and laughed and laughed before parting ways and going to bed.

GREAT NIGHT!

This morning consisted of a sleepy baby who woke up too early, had his morning milk, slept for another 15 minutes on my chest (oh my back!), tried to get up for about 45 minutes but was cranky the whole time, and then took a nap on me for 1.5 hours.  I am not kidding – he went down for a ” nap” from 7:30 AM – 9:00 AM.  CRAZY!  He woke up still tired and that’s when I got that cute photo of him with B on the sofa.  I’ve never seen Matthew so mellow in my life!  It was precious.

We headed out for brunch – back to the Mexican place – and had a great breakfast.  The babies behaved and it was quite enjoyable.  We then parted ways with our friends so that I could get to the highlight of the trip!

We met up with Steph, JJ, and Chloe from Blawndie’s Blawg and had a super fun time!  We went to a local park and let the kids and hubs play while we chatted.  This was my first experience meeting a bloggie friend and it was super fun!  Matthew was exhausted (really?  After a 1.5 hour morning nap and 10 hours of sleep prior to that?) and very stoic, but he showed his dad what it’s like to parent solo at the park  😉  The kids swapped sippy cups and Matthew attempted to steal a kiss from Chloe before he realized that we were trying to photograph them.  HA!  Chloe was just as cute in person as I was expecting (I can’t get over her cuteness and her blonde curls!), and we escaped the morning without a hair pulling incident (Matthew loves to pull hair – a lot!), so I would call it a success.  🙂

Matthew was asleep before we hit the road – he crashed while we were filling the car with gas.  He slept the whole way home and was still exhausted when we got home.  He was in bed at 8:30 sharp – sound asleep.  B says he’s going through a growth spurt and I’m starting to buy into that.

I didn’t take a lot of photos but these capture some highlights:

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Monday Snapshot – Really?

The other day around nap time, Matthew fell asleep in the car on the way home from lunch.  This was not uncommon – he does that quite a bit.  I usually have to carry him in (awake), change his diaper, put him in a sleep sack, and then rock him back to sleep a bit.

But this day was different.  Matthew was a little punchy at lunch and I was a bit frustrated – I mean – we were at chick-fil-WHG and he loves it there.  Nothing makes him happier than his grilled nuggets, cinnamon applesauce, and friendly people.  This day, he was screaming and yelling, and was very obviously irritated with me for some reason.  We left abruptly (sorry, S!) and headed home.  He was asleep in the car within 60 seconds.

Ah – that was the problem – he was beyond tired!

But this time, when we got home, he didn’t wake up when I got him out of the car.  I made the decision to not give him a new diaper, to not put him in a sleep sack.  Instead, we sat in the rocker and I rocked my sleeping baby, and then put him in his crib – day-time pants and all (he’s never slept in day-time pants – ever) and he slept his normal nap time of 3 hours.

It was so reminiscent of when he was a tiny baby and would sleep through anything – and I savored it!

Check out PAIL’s Monday Snapshot to see other memorable moments from the PAIL community!


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Road Trip Hangover

Matthew had a roadtrip hangover today – like – badly!  He woke up after just 9.5 hours of sleep at 6:50  because we kept him up too late.  We let him stay up last night to play with B since he missed him so much.  That was sweet and all – but not good for the boy.  When he emerged from his room this morning, he seemed deflated that he didn’t have a room full of cousins to play with.  Sigh.  😦  Good thing I had a play date already setup for him!  There were tears this morning over absolutely EVERYTHING (no friends to play with, not enough food (really, he had plenty!), he finished his milk and wanted more, the kitties weren’t accessible, you-name-it!).  Mornings like this make me sad because there’s nothing I can do to cheer him up.   Bottom line was that he was bored with just me, he was snotty as all get-out, and he was tired.  So, so, so very tired.

I didn’t let Matthew nap.  I needed to get him back on his regular schedule.  He only napped for 45 minutes TOTAL while we were at my sister’s, and I needed to get him back to his 2.5-3.5 hour daily nap.  I kept him up until 12:30 which just made things worse for him.  We went on our play date at 11:30 and he cried the whole time because, yes, he was tired.  My neighbor (the one whose door I knocked on to introduce myself months ago and we’ve been buddies ever since) was totally understanding, thank goodness, and even offered to keep him for me for a few minutes so I could go get lunch for myself.  I didn’t torture her by taking her up on that offer!

Matthew cried through his naptime books until I finally tossed them aside and snuggled him.  He was out in less than a minute and he slept 2.5 hours – and so did I!  It was wonderful.  It was glorious!

And then he woke up.  Pissy.  Again.

Poor Matthew was obviously not yet caught up on his sleep but it was an improvement so we went out to finally get Mama some food!  We sold my soul to the devil and went to Chick-Fil-We-Hate-Gays and had some wonderful chicken (seriously – I hate one of their corporate values but really love their chicken as well as all the nice people they employ there!) and Matthew yelled at me as his food supply dwindled.  This child does not know when he’s full – we’ve come to this conclusion.  He ate 6 grilled nuggets, applesauce, and some yogurt and I had to rush him out of there because he was screaming at me for more food – and I didn’t have any to give him!  Sweet Jesus!

We went to Tar.get where he FINALLY relaxed because I pushed the cart (with him in it) ahead of me and then would run up to catch it – acting like he was getting away from me.  Serious laughter and fun with that little game.  I looked like a fool, but my kid was happy and that made me happy!  I love buying him random toys when we go to Tar.get together so I was on the hunt for something fun!  He loves music so I bought him a cute little percussion instrument set, hoping that he would love it as much as the plain balls I bought him at the consignment event for $5.  HA!

We then went to DQ for a blizzard because, well, there really is no reason.  I wanted it – it’s that simple.  And it was good.  So very good!

We came home, unpacked the new toy (that took 5 minutes because it was packaged like it contained narcotics or something equivalent), had a snack, and played with the drum set.  He loves it!  He really just loves the sticks and egg shakers but he played with all the instruments and I think he’s going to just love it more and more!  I then took my sweetie for a wagon ride and that put the cherry on his sundae!  Pure bliss!  We visited with the neighbors until B got home, played some more, bathed the boy, and put him to bed too late (again).

And then I re-themed my blog.

The day ended well for us both!  I’m hoping tomorrow is better though  😉

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Memorable Moments Monday

The boy wouldn’t sleep. We’re visiting my sister after a 6.25 hour car ride minus B, and Matthew was too fired up and happy to go to bed on time. This photo was taken around 10:15.

He is asleep now, and we’re sharing a room so I’ll be lulled to sleep soon by the lovely ocean sound coming from the sound machine. I love the sound machine!

The drive went ridiculously well! Matthew only cried for 20-30 minutes and slept or danced the rest of the way. It’s like he knew I was solo and couldn’t entertain him. What a good boy!!!

I will not be blogging or commenting most if this week because I only have my phone and typing posts and comments via phone is not fun or easy. But I’m still reading, and thinking of all of you!!!!