Sawed Off

Meet Sawed Off

Sawed Off has been in our family for about a year now.  He came upon us because of my irrational fear of having a baby addicted to a pacifier. For 6 months I struggled to get Colby to go to sleep, until I realized that he would find things to suck on to sooth himself, like a burp rag, a sock, or sawed off (by this time he didn't understand a pacifier).  It was heavenly, so i gave him Sawed Off as a replacement to the pacifier. This thing is completely disgusting and I also had to keep replacing them because sucking on it gets incredibly gross and he is not cheap.  I just couldn't take him away though, because Colby was sleeping SO well and I didn't want to give up my alone time.  As time went on and I realized I don't want him dependent on Sawed Off past 2 years old, and I REALLY don't want to deal with a grumpy toddler after I took him away PLUS a newborn baby, I decided that I was going to take him away after our last vacation.  I was terrified. Really. I knew Colby would sleep through the night, because he had done it before without Sawed Off, but I didn't know how he would do with little or no nap for days or weeks (I really didn't know how long it would take to get used to being without him).  First day: took 45 minutes to fall sleep for a nap (most of the time digging through his crib trying to find his buddy) and he took an hour long nap, nighttime - fell asleep just fine (probably exhausted from not napping as long as he usually does). Second day: Cried for 5-10 minutes but fell asleep fairly easily and took a 2 1/2 - 3 hour nap, night time was just fine again. Third day: Cried for 5 minutes for his nap and fell asleep right away for bed time. By the fourth day there was no more crying for naps and he was sleeping between 2 1/2 - 3 hours again. It's not perfect, sometimes he wakes up really early in the morning, but luckily he'll just hang out in his crib until i get him. I'm not completely cruel, he still has all his stuffed animals in the crib with him (as many as his little arms can carry) so i believe that helped out A LOT. but i CANNOT believe how easy it was to take Sawed Off away! I'll tell you what though, I'm terrified to travel without Sawed Off, he's a great companion in the car, but we'll make it work somehow.

Now that I know that when a baby needs to suck on something to sooth himself, he'll find a way to do it, it's better to just give him what he needs than to deal with the crying for months and months trying to fight him.  This next baby will definitely be getting a pacifier if he has the same issues.

February vacation

Colby and I have been doing a little vacationing the last 2 weeks and we've had so much fun! It started with Colby and me going to LA a couple Fridays ago to see my siblings and my parents (Andrew was originally going to come with me, but had to work that Saturday so I made the journey with Colby alone).  We spent Saturday at the beach,

He couldn't get enough of the water

He was pretty sad that the birds kept flying away 

and Sunday we went to church and headed home as soon as we could to see Andrew.  My parents came with me to Bakersfield and spent a couple days here helping me with things around the house.... but mostly setting up Colby's swingset (which he has yet to use, but I'm sure he'll love it).  Wednesday last week we headed down to Arizona to my parents house where Colby and I spent the last week and a half.  Andrew had prepared me and told me he was going to be super busy, so I took this time to get out of the house and spend some time with my family in AZ.  While I was out having fun, Andrew was working 22+ hour days (poor guy is so tired. As a matter of fact he picked us up from the airport, which was a saturday, and dropped us off just to head back to work).  We went hiking almost every day, some days Colby hated it, and other days he didn't seem to mind - maybe he figured out that after the hike, he was able to play at the park for a while.

Jason, Francisca, Lea, Kami, Dan, and Brittany were all there for a couple days and we had some great time together

We had some fun family get togethers and Colby was able to meet his great-grandparents on papa's side,

 we took Colby to the mall so he could see dogs at the pet store and go on this merry-go-round,

 he also got his first professional haircut (which went SOOO much better than i could have ever imagined)

We had a great time in Arizona, but it sure does feel nice to be home again.

Baby stuff

I had another ultrasound yesterday to check on some of the things that the ultrasound tech wasn't able to find before with the first ultrasound.  The two things they needed to find was a valve on the heart, and the face.  Well after some difficulty, we were finally able to find out that the heart is fine.  But, this baby still wont let us get a look at his precious little face.  He is always looking down or towards my back.  I even got off the table to do some stretches to try and get him to move.  He was finally giving us a little glimpse of his face, but had his arm covering his mouth. Bad news: We weren't able to find out if there was a cleft palate issue.  Good news: I get yet ANOTHER ultrasound in a month.  It really is fun being able to see my baby so often!

I'm not sure how I feel about this doctors office anymore.  The ultrasound techs are super nice, but the receptionists and nurses seem so "cold". I'm pretty sure i've never seen them smile.  My doctor is nice, but I always leave there having an awkward conversation with her.  I was trying to figure out if it was her or me, maybe it is me.  Who knows.  She is really nice though, and i guess we can just continue these awkward little conversations about why Colby sometimes showers with me, and how i am able to fit in "hubby time" even though he works long hours.

This pregnancy has been pretty good to me.  With Colby i was completely over the sickness between 20 and 21 weeks.  With this one...so far it's week 27 and i'm still feeling the sickness.  The throwing up is gone, but the nausea is still around, although not NEARLY as bad as it was the first 20 weeks.  I've come to the conclusion that I will be sick the entire time with this one, but i know it could be worse and i'm counting my blessings that the only things i've got going on right now is the nausea and the back pain that comes so rarely i can't even complain about it (although sometimes i can use that to my advantage when i want a back rub). Bring on the 3rd trimester!

Nursery!

Colby has reached that age! It's so bitter-sweet.  Yesterday was Colby's first day of nursery.  I did take him last Sunday for a little bit just to see how he would adjust, and he seemed so happy so finally be off my lap and able to play.  I was so happy he loved it, but (and i blame this on the pregnancy) i was really trying to fight back tears! He didn't need me! So yesterday I made Andrew come with me to drop him off.  I basically just let him go and we snuck out real quick before he saw us leave. Apparently he cried for a short time, but other than that he did great! I didn't cry when I dropped him off, but seeing how happy he was when he saw us after church made me all emotional again! Dang hormones. It really was SOOO nice being able to just sit in class and relax again after a year and a half of trying to entertain him, so i really am so happy he's finally in nursury, it's just also hard to face the fact that he's 18 months old!

18 months

Colby had his 18 month check up today. Always so sad to see him get the shots, but he's always such a trooper. I was a proud mama when the nurse kept saying how good he was for just sitting there while they checked him. I don't remember his exact measurements, but he was a little over 21 lbs and about 32 1/2 inches long i believe. He got taller since his last appointment, and gained about a pound. Of course now he's going through a picky phase, but hopefully we can get him to eat more and more to help him gain weight.

Right now he:
Loves opening and closing doors

Loves loves loves stuffed animals

I am missing most my measuring cups/spoons because they now belong to him

He must be held while i'm cooking so he can see what i'm doing (maybe he doesn't trust my cooking either)

He says a lot of words - mama, dada, papa, nana (gma and gpa sometimes), apple, banana, orange, cracker, raisins, oatmeal, cheese, ham, potato, corn, pants, shoes, socks, jacket, pillow, hello, bye, bear, ball, door, please, thank you, and probably more than i can't remember. of course most of those words are just between his parents and him, nobody else would have any idea what he's saying.

Loves dancing

Loves being chased by daddy when he gets home

Loves reading, but not getting read to

Goes into his room to take a nap and go down for the night when i ask him if he's tired

If something is out of place in the house he'll grab it and say "back" and put it where he thinks it goes (most of the time he actually gets it right)

He loves being outside and always wants me to put his shoes on, and then he'll grab my shoes for me

He is such a joy in our home.  We've been blessed with an incredibly good boy that loves to please people.  I just can't get enough of his smile!

IT'S A BOY!

I can't believe it! I am in shock, I honestly thought we were having a girl! Things haven't been too different with this pregnancy, so i don't know why i thought it was girl.  We even had a girl name picked out.  Now...back to ground zero. So excited to be having another boy! it's going to be so much fun with two boys, although i'm sure i'm going to have my hands full. Colby is going to teach his little brother all sorts of things i'm sure.  We also get to go back next month for a bonus ultrasound since our little one wasn't cooperating and hiding his face. I'm excited for that!
So...any boy name ideas? let me know!

Christmas vacation

Our christmas vacation was so much fun! It was crazy busy, but I wouldn't ask for more.  We drove through the night to get to Oregon because of the young one.  Colby does not do that well in his carseat these days, he just wants to go, go, go and hates that the carseat restrains him.  He finally upgraded to a front facing carseat for this trip and that made things so much easier to tend to him while we were traveling.  We left here around 7:30 and got to Oregon around 8:30 in the morning. not too shabby, but MAN is it exhausting to drive all night.  Our plan worked out great, Colby slept the majority of the way and made our trip so nice.  We started off the beginning of our vacation in Sherwood, spending just a couple days there.  We decorated sugar cookies, it was fun to watch colby. He got SOME frosting on the cookie.

Christmas morning was a blast with Colby able to do so much more than last year.  He ripped open those presents like a pro - although he didn't care much for what was inside. Maybe next year.

My parents planned another game for us this year "minute to win it" and of course we had a great time trying to beat these games in order to get our gifts.  I'm glad we are all able to get together still to spend Christmas morning together.

Monday morning, Andrew and I headed off to Bend to share the holiday with Andrew's parents.  It was a great trip over there! We opened more presents, let Colby explore the outdoors a bit, and we took him sledding. We were even sledding in the rain and Colby had a permanent smile on his face.  It was so much fun to watch him.  Pretty sure i bundled him up enough, once he could barely move his arms i figured we were good to go.

We made it back to Sherwood for the last bit of the trip and we had a great time relaxing before our journey home (again traveling through the night).  We are back in Bakersfield now, and although i miss Oregon to death, it feels nice getting back into our routine. I'm already looking forward to our next trip up there, although i have know idea when that will be.