fourth feverrrrr

i have so much to catch up on - kullens sleep situation, 4th of july, and 365 project just to name a few! i swear, i'll catch up eventually ;)

so - lets start with kullen-man and his sleep! things are going GREAT! :D we left off on friday, where we had a pretty successful night [thanks to hub] and i'm not sure if i mentioned it but i was a little worried about the weekend because i knew we'd be going away for at least ONE night and i know how routines can get thrown off when going on 'vacation'. well - friday was fine - put him in his crib and he stayed there, but did wake up. on saturday, we woke up around 7am and had to go wake mr. man up! :) we ventured down to our friend joey's lake house for a 4th of july pig roast and as soon as we got there adam realized he left the pack and play in HIS car. you've gotttttta be kidding me! luckily - joey's parents had an extra one so we were saved!!! - of course, things did get thrown off a tad ... kullen would not go to sleep on his own -- well, he probably WOULD but if i would have left him there - but instead, i laid on the bed with him while he drank his bottle and the next thing i knew - i woke up and it was dark! haha! he woke up that night around 4am and i had a hard time getting him back to sleep but eventually did. we spend all day sunday at joey's as well ... kullen took a nap in his pack and play after swimming and lunch and i was able to catch some rays while mostly everyone was out on the boat! we had a huge crab feast - where kullen tried his first crab - and loved it! :) after cleaning up and packing our stuff - we decided to head back home. of course kullen slept the whole way home (which was about an hour and a half) so i was worried how our night would go. once we got home, we gave him a bath and did our normal nighttime routine of milk and story before putting him in his crib. once i put him there, i don't think he made a peep. i woke up the next morning around 8 and went into his room (paranoid mom!) to find my little man just starting to wake up! he had slept in his bed ALL night without waking up ONCE!!! i was so proud of him!! :) so, monday night and last night were just as good ... we did our nighttime routine and put him in his crib - of course he cried some but was asleep within 10 minutes. both monday and tuesday night - he did wake up between 12:30-1:00am but i just went in and laid him back down, rubbing his back and he was back to sleep almost immediately. :D i didn't realize how happy having this whole routine would make me ... it's nice to not have to fight him to go to sleep, or lay with him while he tosses and turns. i can lay him down and then still have an hour or two of 'me' time to get some things done - or just be completely lazy and catch up on tv (which is what i have been doing!)
but, all in all - we had a good fourth of july. sadly - we didn't see a single firework though :( well, honestly, i'm not too upset about it - i know next year kullen will probably be begging to see them - so this year was us taking advantage of NOT having to do the whole firework fiasco ;) the time at joey's was a blast and we look forward to doing it again soon!
i wish i had more pictures from the weekend but unfortunately, my camera was on it's last leg so i didn't get nearly as many as i wanted too =(


us <3

kids :)

water baby!

monday we went to the pool with my mom and sister!


<3


also - i guess i should clarify something i mentioned in my last post. it's true - adam and i are trying for our second baby. :) i am not broadcasting this all over, but consider it a special treat for my blog readers ;) so pleaseeee - if we're facebook friends, don't mention anything on there - i don't want EVERYONE knowing just yet because i, of course, have the fear of infertility. that was definitely something i hated last go round ... once people knew that i was trying, it was all they asked about. and everytime i had to tell them 'not yet' i felt like a total failure - SO - until there is a bun in the oven, i won't be talking much about it (that's the plan anyway)
but yes - i have been off my pill for a few months but we haven't actually been 'trying' - last month we were ... uh, not careful, but i didn't go to any extremes of 'trying' so when i got my period this month - i was not surprised. disappointed, absolutely, but not surprised.
so while we were at joey's over the weekend - adam and i were chatting about something and he just came out and said that he was disappointed that i wasn't pregnant. so, i preceed to slap his arm and ask him why the heck he didn't tell me that he was READY! he said 'of course i'm ready ... why else would i be okay with no birth control' HAHAHA :) so, i asked him if we could REALLY try this month and he said absolutely - so that's the plan. i consider this month one of trying! so, stay tuned - my bloggers will be the first to know :)

and, in last post, i mentioned the fears of having another baby - and they are still something that i will battle with but when me and adam had kullen, we said we wanted our kids to be 2 years apart so we are infact sticking to our original plan. if i were to get pregnant this month, baby #2 would be born in april - and kullen would be turning two that june!
and i have heard some people say they'd rather get one potty trained and past terrible twos before even thinking of having another but i think i'm total opposite with that. i don't want to get used to kullen being potty trained and doing everything on his own - and then be thrown for a loop when i newborn comes. we'll see how this goes over when i actually DO have a newborn and 2 year old ;)

so, thats pretty much all that's going on over in the poag world :) kullen is walking more and more - but crawling is still his main mode of transport :) he walked from the bathroom into the hallway yesterday - so cute! he walks like frankenstein - with his arms out in front of him!! haha i can't help but laugh!
i wonder what kullen would say about mommy and daddy having another baby?! ;]

dad/hubby of the year!

well, night two. complete and total SUCCESSSSSSSSSS!!!!! :D
thanks to - hub! he was super dad last night and i praise/thank him for it!

so, last night things were thrown off a tad ... after adam gave kullen his bath, i called and asked him to meet me at rita's, which he wasn't too happy about since he had just bathed kullen but he did anyway. we chatted with some friends and ate some ice and then went home. it was around 9pm - which is later than kullen usually stays up so i figured bedtime would be a cinch. ha!
i made his sippy, put his pjs on, turned the light off and rocked him while he drank. well - problem number one was that he didn't want his milk. he didn't even drink half, so i was worried i'd be up in the night with a hungry kid. so, i kissed him and put him in his crib. immediately he began crying and kicking his feet. i knew i had to leave him though, and i did. he screamed for what seemed like EVER and my heart was breaking. the screaming never slowed up so after about 10 or so minutes, i went back in and picked him up and rocked him a bit. i knew he was sleepy and would go to sleep with me holding him but that defeats the whole purpose of what we're trying to do - so i turned on his little lamp so he wasn't in complete darkness and put him back in his crib. he was crying but it wasn't AS instense as before. so i shut the door and went and sat on my bed with the monitor. finally, the crying slowed and turned into wimpers. i told adam that if he stopped crying within a few minutes to go in his room and check on him and turn his lamp off. i jumped in the shower and when i got out - adam was walking back in our room. he says 'he saw me!!' but i didn't hear crying on the monitor so i asked him what he meant. he said that he tip toed in kullens room but as soon as he got the door open, kullen peeked his head up and looked at him! haha! considering i didn't hear crying, i figured kullen was half asleep when he did that. SO - i waited a few minutes and went back in and turned his lamp off.
then i questioned myself about that ... should i leave the lamp on all night so if/when he wakes up in the night he's not freaked by pitch black? i wouldn't have a problem but the lamp is bright so adam put one of kullens little baseball hats on top and i just have a fear of that starting a fire. i need a night light for him!
so, anyway - decided to leave the light OFF.
well, went to bed and of course kullen woke up crying around midnight. i didn't budge. he was screaming pretty loud - loud enough to wake up hub (which says a lot!)
well adam got up - and i figured he'd just bring him back in our bed but instead the crying ceased and adam came back to bed within 5 minutes. i couldn't believe it! back to sleep we went. well, around 3:00am - the screaming started again, instensly! adam got up again!!! woah! i think he knew i was going to just let him cry (i had stated that to him earlier, but come on - we all know i wouldn't have really done that for long!) well, after a few minutes the screaming didn't die down and i yelled to adam 'just bring him in here' ... see, adam gets up for the day between 3:30-4am so i felt bad that he was up taking care of kullen (obviously not bad enough since i continued to lay there, hehe) ... but, after a few more minutes, the crying stopped and adam came back to bed! it was 3:20. it took him exactly 20 minutes to calm mr. man down and get him back in his crib.
my alarm went off at 5:20 this morning and i woke up to an empty bed. something i haven't done in a WHILE. i grabbed the monitor only to realize it wasn't even ON!!! which scared me, what if he had been crying and i didn't hear? (yeah right! haha) so, i crept in his room only to find him sound asleep :)


so, here's hoping this routine continues. now that we've had a successful night of keeping him in his crib, i feel like it will be easier and easier. can't wait for the day when i blog about my boy sleeping in his crib without waking up AT ALL during the night! ;]

disclaimer:
i know people will think 'her one year old isn't sleeping through the night yet?!!!' but despite what most think - it's not THAT uncommon. plus, i consider a child to 'sleep through the night' when they are no longer waking up to feed. just because they get up once or twice due to being startled out of sleep, bad dream, turning the wrong way or whatever the case may be - doesn't mean they aren't sleeping through the night. kullen sleeps ALL night! he may wake up once but it's brief and really, most of us adults do the same thing. i know i do - to go the bathroom, to adjust myself, because i had a weird/bad dream ... so before anyone starts thinking bad thoughts about a kid (which is wrong in itself!)... just wait until YOU have a kid! it's not as easy as it seems, trust me! ;]
sorry for the negative part - but i have just seen blogs, comments and random posts of people down talking kids and their parents and half of them aren't even parents! it's like how dare you judge anyone's parenting when you aren't even parents!! how dare you judge anyone's parenting period. until you've been in their shoes - which you NEVER will be because no two kids are alike - don't judge!

sleep battle

it's time.
time for kullen to sleep in his own crib, all night.
when kullen was first born, he was in the basinet next to my bed ... eventually, that turnd into IN my bed. and yes, before all you non-parents sit there and say 'my kid will never end up in my bed' - i said the SAME thing. i had heard of parents not being able to break their kid of it and thought it was ridiculous that their kid was even IN their bed to begin with and yet when i was in the parent shoes - my how things changed. not only do you love that tiny little baby more than ANYTHING - you are SLEEP DEPRIVED. if the only way you can get sleep is to have them in bed with you, believe me - you'll do it.
finally - when kullen was able to sleep through the night - he went back to the basinet but probably still ended up in our bed majority of the time. i just love having him there, he's a good little cuddler - plus, it's the cutest thing when they wake up and crawl all over you to wake you up!
anyway - so, once kullen outgrew his basinet - we set the pack n play up beside my bed because i still wasn't ready for him to be in a whole seperate room! he slept in there great. hardly ended up in our bed, except for weekends when he would wake up at 6am and i knew putting him with me would allow us both to sleep for 2 more hours!
well - after much persuasion from hubby - and friends/family - i decided it was time to put kullen in his own room. so, our nightly routine became him falling asleep in our bed and moving him to his crib. all worked well except for the fact that he would wake up every night - different times - and i would go get him and bring him back into our bed to continue our peaceful slumber.
well, i still don't personally mind him in my bed, but i know this has to be stopped now because it's only going to get harder and harder.
so, after talking with our pediatrician and a good friend for some advice, we have a plan. and last night was night 1 of said plan.
kullen got his bath and pjs. we made him his sippy and him and i went into his room and shut the door. i sat in the rocker with him and read him a story, while he drank his sippy. now, some nights he is sooo tired he will fall asleep during his sippy/bottle - those are the easy nights. last night was not. after he finished, i put him in his crib, turned the monitor on and left him. he was okay for the first 5 or so minutes but then he began to cry. and cry. and cryyyyy. my husband started to walk in there at one point and i stopped him reminding him we had to be strong. well, a few minutes later - i went in there. i just had to make sure he wasn't stuck between the bars of his crib or whatever! so, there he was .. bawling his little eyeballs out and reaching up for me. i picked him up and rocked him a bit - and his eyes rolled back and so i put him in the crib. nope, not happening - he was sitting up, crying again. so i laid him back down and stepped back ... this happened about 20 times - with him crying the entire time. finally, i kissed him and laid him down once more and walked out of the room. i sat outside his door, listening and he was crying but it was slowly fading to a wimper. finally, it was quiet. after 10 or so minutes, i crept in there just to be sure he was okay - and sure enough, he was soundly sleeping.
this was the first part of the plan. making him go to sleep, in his crib, on his own. success.

the next step was to set a time - a time that if he woke up after, we would go get him. so i set the time for 12-12:30. so, he woke up around 11ish crying .. i went to the bathroom and when i came back, he was not crying anymore so i went back to sleep. he woke up again around 12ish so i went and picked him up, rocked him for a while and tried to put him back in the crib. the minute i tried to lay him down, his eyes were WIDE open and i knew this wasn't going to happen. meaning - FAIL. i gave in and brought him back to bed with me.
FAIL! FAIL! FAIL!

so, tonight - we will try again.
if ... er, WHEN he wakes up - i will NOT go get him. i will let him cry. UNLESS - he cries for more than 30 minutes straight, then i will go get him, of couse.
i'll post details tomorrow.
wish us luck!

PS - MY BABY SISTER GOT HER LICENSCE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! GO ZANNIE!!!! :D