Merry Christmas 2011

My little elf baby. We had a relaxed version of an "Ugly Christmas Sweater Party", but when I saw these red overalls at our local thrift store for $2, I had to get them. 

 My super sexy hubby and my brother-in-law in women's clothes. 

Auntie Jennie got Jackson his first set of blocks.

Those crazy grandbabies 

Leo telling us stories of Christmas past.

 This baby needs to start crawling.

 Sweet boy. (Those are his cousin, Brielle's, leggings.)

 Cutie-pa-tootie

Matching hats!

Best buddies

 Brielle's the best niece ever.

 I mean, how can I not be attracted to this?

Current Obsessions

1. Sweet potato fries-
        No really. I can't get enough of them. I just buy the frozen kind and they are delish. Jackson loves them. I love them. We love them together. Leo. Not so much. So we eat them for lunch while Leo is gone.

 2. HSN & QVC-
       Yep. I have no shame. Let's get it straight though. I don't have cable so the 10 channels that I have, I cherish. Man, I completely understand how old women can sit and watch HSN and want to buy things. Relax. I've never actually bought anything, but if I were rich, I would. I mean, hello? They have a flex-pay option.

3. Rasberry cheesecake hot chocolate-
     'Nuff said.

4. Turbo Fire-
      I'm on an exercise kick and it feels sooo good. Going on week 3 and I finally feel like I'm not dying anymore. I'm still eating anything I want, (It's Christmas.) but hopefully with the New Year, I'll get motivated for that too.

5. My Sweet Jackson-
     You didn't really think I could write a whole post without mentioning my buddy. He's soo fun right now. I've decided I need to write down when we have fun together, because it feels like most of the time, I post about him when it's hard. But we play and giggle all day long right now. I desperately wish he would crawl so he could be a little bit more independent, but he'll do it when he's good and ready. I watched a youtube video yesterday where they put their baby on his knees and put his arms on a box and helped him push it across the floor. I don't know if that makes sense, but heck, I'll try anything. I think he's going to say mama in the next couple days, because he puts his mouth in the "m" position over and over again but without saying anything. Anyway. I love him.

Blogging at 1 am.

Why? you might ask.... Oh my baby's just been screaming for an hour and half and shows no sign of stopping. This is no "fussing". This is straight up "conniption" crying. I finally decided to just shake myself out of sleepiness and get on the computer. The problem is if I fall in and out of sleep, I inevitably stumble into his room, out of habit, and either pat his back or pick him up. This might sound like I'm the worst mom in the world to not want to comfort my child when he's screaming his guts out, but for Jackson, it's necessary. He's such a bad sleeper and I know I'm partly to blame (I'm such a softie).

I've tried the slow separation, pat the back when they start crying, pick up put down methods and it hasn't helped. So, I have to figure out a way to be strong and not even touch him for hours while he screams. The part that stresses me out is him flailing his body around the crib. I took away his heavy blanket so he won't get wrapped up in it. Hopefully, all that crying is keeping him warm enough. Earlier, I stumbled in to pat him and he freaked out so much at me being there, that he was on his stomach and he pushed himself up into sitting position. Also, when he's on his stomach, he'll push up on to his toes, so his bum's high in the air and slam himself to the side. I told you. Conniption.

Yeah, I have to keep myself in wake mode or I'm just frustrated with him. If I can keep a straight head, then I remember that we're doing this for a reason. I'll feed him at 4, which is almost another 3 hrs. I bet you he cries the entire time. So what does that mean? If he never falls asleep, does he still associate nursing with sleeping? So the whole night was pointless because he never once fell asleep on his own. Ugh.

Pause. He's not crying. He's sleep hiccuping. Oh, j.k. Back to crying.

It just breaks my heart, because during the day, Jackson and I play and giggle and snuggle and read and it's like the best little relationship I could ever ask for. And then, the night comes. (Ok, I really wanted to sing Les Miserables, "And the dragons come at niiight" Don't know it? I Dreamed a Dream? You're missing out.)

I think he fell asleep. I'm going to try to sleep while he does.

Well, it's 7:45 am now so you know we eventually did get some sleep.

I just read back through my post. 'Twas a rough night. Hopefully tonight goes better. Jackson woke up smiling. What a goober.

My baby's 8 months old

Jackson turns 8 months old today and I can't believe it. He's getting closer and closer to be a yr old and it's so bittersweet. This age is ridiculously fun. Here's a little bit about him:

What he's eating: Still prefers nursing over anything else but, he's starting to love table foods. We started giving it to him about a month ago and he likes people food way more than pureed baby food. His favorites are bananas, yogurt, graham crackers, any noodles, cheese, chicken, bread, and green beans. He still gags every once in awhile, which stresses his dad out. Probably should stress me out but as long as he's coughing, he figures it out. Loves having water given to him through a straw.

Developmental Milestones: He can roll both ways now, but this whole "rolling across the room", yeah. That's not happening. Jackson is content to just be still. He can get up on his knees and every once in awhile, he'll have a day where he planks a bunch, but other than that, no crawling. He belly spins a bunch and scoots backwards all day long. He loves it when we hold his hands and he walks and he gets really excited to stand against the couch. He's starting to grab at me like he wants to pull himself up so maybe in a month or two that'll happen. He's still not sleeping through the night and for awhile there, it was really bad. We've been doing some serious sleep training this past week and I think it'll take a couple weeks but I'm trying to be strong.

His favorite things: he likes rolling a ball with his dad, trucks, loves eating books (his favorite books to eat are these baby sign language books, I think we've only gone through the actual signs once), this plastic toy that sings about counting animals, still loves his baths, loves when I blow bubbles with my gum, enjoying peekaboo more and more, loves when his mom throws him around and flips him upside down, enjoys a good cartoon (specifically Super Why), and loves his mama and daddy.

Things he doesn't like: when I wipe his crusty nose in the morning, when he's sick and I make him do tummy time, when we take something away from him that he's eating or playing with. He's going through some separation anxiety right now and 2 wks ago, it was intense. I couldn't set him down to go to the bathroom without him crying. He's definitely a mama's boy.

What he's saying: "Mmbaaaaa", rasberries, and I don't know how to describe this one but he purses his lips together and then blows out a bunch of air. Anyway, it's all adorable.

His temperament: I would say overall, he's still on the needy side, but his happy days are sooo fun. He's super giggly and smiles at everything.

Being a mama is still the best thing in the entire world and I wouldn't trade it for anything. It is amazing looking at this little guy that you invest everything (and I mean everything) into and seeing how much he loves you.

You're Welcome

Finally!

I finished my Christmas stockings! So, member how I wanted a burlap Christmas... Well, so far, I have a made our tree skirt out of burlap, a Merry Christmas banner (which my husband is slowly coming around too). It is rather large but I absolutely love it. 

And today I finished our stockings out of burlap. I do realize that they look homemade, but I still love it! 

On another note, look how cute my hubby and Jackson are snuggling up together!

And guess who's feeling better! 

Tired mom ramblings.

Poor Jackson's fever and runny nose is gone, but he's left with a horrible cough. I think we'll go to the doctor's tomorrow. I know it's not whooping cough or whatever, but I still don't like it. I tried to help him get as much sleep as possible last night which means that I barely slept at all.

FYI- I can update you on any infomercial. My favorites are the Topstyler and Metamorphasis by Tracy Anderson and the classic Kymaro. That brunette model who doesn't even need a Kymaro sure has that rotating position down.

 I also ate almost an entire box of generic brand, iced oatmeal cookies. Yeah, go ahead and process that sentence.

Furthermore, getting no sleep means I have become the ultimate housewife who needs her daily diet coke. (Ok, let's talk about the fact that I used the word "furthermore". You see, I was remembering back to yesteryear when I had to write papers and I wanted to use the word "also", but since I'd just used it in a previous sentence, I decided to look for another word and furthermore was the best I could come up with.) Sorry mom. I don't have the love of grammar like you do. I'm pretty sure you're not supposed to end sentences with verbs or prepositions.

Ok... slightly sidetracked.

So, yes. Diet coke. I've ranked my preference of diet cokes and I've had this conversation with my husband many-a-time.

1. Fountain. McDonalds is usually the best.
2. 16 oz bottle
3. Can
4. Last but not least, the 2-liter bottle. It just goes flat so quickly.

Did you need to see this picture again from last year's Ugly Christmas Sweater Party?

P.S. It's possible that we sent this in to Ellen's Bad Holiday Photos. Wouldn't that be awesome if it got chosen? 

I should probably take a nap today.

It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year

So, it's no secret that I'm a fan of Christmas. Everything about it makes me happy. Like right now, I'm sitting in my rocker with my Christmas tree lit up next to me and let's just pretend I'm also drinking hot chocolate because that makes it even better (I drank some this morning, but right now I'm actually having diet pepsi). I got new decorations for my tree this year. Of course, the amazing lighting in my house doesn't do it justice. But I do love it. I made a bow tonight for it and I'm finishing up our stockings tomorrow. 

The best part about Christmas has to be the music. It's pretty much always playing in my house or car. Every time I hear the song, "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year", I think of my old choir teacher, Ms. Block. And yes, I was in choir. And yes, it was in the 4th & 5th grade. And yes, I sang "Happy Birthday" to audition. I will never forget Ms. Block. Bless her heart. She was an older gal, single and it was pretty obvious to even us, 4th graders, that she didn't have very many suitors. We sang "It's the Most Wonderful Time of the Year" and "Up on the Housetop" in our super awesome turtlenecks and santa hats. Ah. Good times. 

Yay for December 1st today!

Sick baby

Second day in a row I've been up at 4:30 with Jackson. He had a mild fever all yesterday and hopefully it'll go away tomorrow. Sad little cough and runny nose too. Yesterday, he just wanted me to hold him all day and I'm guessing that's how today will go. 

Here's how he looked for most of yesterday.

But he still gave a few smiles.