Dekker officially survived his first sleep in his big boy bed! Ok, its still his crib, just without the front. But it counts. He was a touch apprehensive when we lay him down, and he took quite a while to fall asleep, but he never got out of bed. He eventually fell asleep flat on his face, without any blankets. And slept all through the night!

I was so thankful to wake up to Laela in the morning, instead of a loud thump from Dekker’s room like the night before. I checked the video monitor and found him standing in the corners of his daybed, checking things out, or he would sit in the front corner that is now wide open. But he never left the bed. When I went in to get him, he stood up and reached out for me, requesting to be picked up. I suggested he climb out on his own and he sort of looked down at the floor, and then shook his head. I told him it wouldn’t be as scary if he sat down on his bum, so he tried it out and of course, he easily climbed out. I asked him if he liked his bed, to which he responded with an excited “Ya!” I know it seems like a small thing, but I pondered this a couple of months ago and decided it was too big of an adjustment. While he surprises us all the time, I genuinely think that waiting until now was smart. Yes, he took a fall because of it. But I think it would have been considerably worse a couple of months ago, and I’m happy we waited. And it seems he is content as well.

He napped great in his crib as well. He slept over 2.5 hours. When I heard him making noise, I went to get him. I usually let him hang out in there for a while before I get him, but now that he can get down on his own, I don’t want him to be waiting by the door and have me not hear him. So I went to get him and he was still trashed! He sat on my lap without speaking for a solid half hour before he perked up. See? There’s a reason we leave him in there! He likes to wake up on his own!! He’s a sweetie.

He was considerably less nervous this evening, so that is wonderful 🙂 Its becoming normal.

We spent the evening with Jerilee, eating honey chicken over rice, and watching the Lost finale. We had a great visit, and finally parted ways shortly after 11pm. I love her. Thanks for making the trip, friend!

To bed we go! I hope you’re all already sleeping!

Anyone who knows Dekker knows that he is not mischievous. As in really not at all. It has made some things way easier, and others much harder. We’re always learning with him, and I’m sure we will be learning with all of our kids, forever.

Dekker fell out of his crib this morning. Yes, he is still in a crib. Well, he was. He won’t be tonight, I promise.

I know most people feel like very differently about cribs than we do. No, I’m not trying to prevent him from growing up. I know he isn’t a baby. But I know he has never tried to get out before. I am confident that he would get out if he wanted to! But he hasn’t. The crib has been a place that he’s really enjoyed, and it works great to contain him while he’s waking up, or for time outs. He likes his crib. Until this morning, apparently.

I was awakened by a large thump, followed by Dekkers cries. I flew out of bed and raced into his room. As I suspected, having never heard that loud of a sound from him before, he was on the floor, bawling. I scooped him up and hugged him while he cried and cried. We rocked and hummed and he calmed within a couple of short minutes. Out of the blue, he pooped him head off of my shoulder and said “Change bum.” I was a bit surprised by his peppy attitude, and asked if he was hurt. “Nope.” Ok then! So I put him down and he hustled over to his bookshelf, saying “Pick book. Pick book.” So he picked a book and I started changing his diaper. After just a moment, he sort of looked at me funny. Finally, he seemed to work up the courage, and inquired “Mom. Pants? Shirt?” Hahaha! I got a kick out of his tiny little judgement of my indecency 🙂 I assured him I would get dressed once his diaper was changed. He accepted that, and continued to read his book.

So he bounced back. But it was a bit crazy! I wasn’t sure how he landed until I had him in the dining room in better light and saw the red spots get redder. He has rug burn on his forehead and his nose. The kid fell right on his face. I’ve kept a good eye on him, and he’s absolutely himself! But it shook me up pretty well! I was scared to put him down for his nap in his crib, but he was exhausted after getting up so much earlier than usual. So I put him down when I knew he was solidly tired, and I went to get him pretty much right when I heard him wake up and start moving around. And, you guys, he looked sooo beautiful!

Anyway, a while ago I was wondering when to switch him into a bed, or even just his mattress on the floor. Now I don’t have to wonder. Tonight it is!!!

 

* And hey, please no judging. We’re learning right along with him! Thanks for the support 🙂

I felt so loved after yesterdays post about Dekker and his new time out routine. Thank you, everyone who said they were proud of him, or impressed by him. I really am both of those things, and he continues to blow me away every day.

After four successful nights of sleeping through, Laela is back on the nighttime feeding bandwagon. Its not the end of the world, really. We used to give her a full 8 oz bottle in the middle of the night, and now we only do 4 oz, in an effort to get more of her food into her in the day, in hopes that she’ll sleep through again soon. Anytime I try to get a couple of extra ounces into her, she’s thrown up. Its not worth the vomit and her yucky tummy. I guess we’ll just rock the night feeding a little bit longer. I’m very excited to be starting her on solid foods any day now!, and I think that might help a lot. It will potentially fill her up a bit more without taking up too much room in her tummy.

With the 3-4am wake up, I have been really hoping the kids would nap at the same time so I could have a bit of down time. Not that its really a huge deal, but its nice. Lets be honest. Night feeding or not, a quiet house is always a nice treat. However, the way its been working lately is that Laela sleeps away the early afternoon. Dekker goes down around 3:00pm everyday, and thats about when Laela wakes up. Sometimes I get a half hour of overlap in there. If she wakes up right when he goes down, sometimes she goes back down before he gets up. But oftentimes, they just alternate. I’m eager for them to share those few hours, but if Laela is life Dekker, she’ll nap more once she’s more active. She’s quite a go-getting at this point, but not in an insane way. She is nowhere near crawling or anything like that. But she’s awake a lot! I can only do so much. Maybe eventually I’ll move Dekker’s nap around, but I know things will just keep changing.

Naps or not, the kids had a really great day. Considerably less meltdowns than usual, which was a huge plus! We all had a big supper, and read books in Dekkers room while we took our time getting the kids ready for bed. Dekker went down happily and Laela is having a bottle before going down. I can’t wait for my soak in the tub and some Parks and Rec reruns.

Over the last week or so, Dekker has began a curious new practice around here. At first, I kind of laughed about it, and figured he didn’t understand what he was saying. But I am completely confident now that he knows exactly what is happening.

Dekker has started putting himself in time out.

We don’t resort to time out for every little thing, but we use it when he is doing a lot of screaming and fussing. Don’t get me wrong! Its not like, he wants something and we can’t figure it out, so we lock him up. Not at all. We calm him down, hold his hands, and ask him when he wants. He often tells us, too! Snack. Up. Drink. La. Any number of things can be the reason. However, if we offer him the thing, or do what he wants, and he just keeps losing it, we tell him that if he wants to scream, he has to go do it in his room by himself. Its has a really good result with him, and nine times out of ten, he comes out of his room apologetic and calmer.

A couple of times over the last few days, when he’s been pushing that limit, I’ve asked him “Do you want a time out?” And he’s replied “ya.” Not in a bratty, snarky way. But in a somewhat relieved way? I don’t know. I kind of giggled at first. But today, I really saw it in action.

He wan having breakfast. Dekker eats MASSIVE breakfasts. He had some cereal and asked for a banana. So I got him one. I set it in front of him and he immediately pushed it away and said “done.” He had eaten a fraction of his usual breakfast, so knowing he was still hungry, I right away said to him that he had asked for that banana, so he needed to east it now. And he lost it. I bargained with him a bit and eventually got roughly a third of it into him. I was scared to push too terribly hard in case he was feeling sick again, I didn’t want to make him throw up. So I stopped after a third. I didn’t ask him to thank me for breakfast, or to ask politely to leave the table. I just took him out of his chair and put him on the floor, and walked to the kitchen with his dishes. I was annoyed and needed to have a bit of space from him. I heard him scream and run a little ways down the hallway towards his bedroom. I turned to see what he was doing, and he was peeking around the wall at me, teary eyed. I asked, completely calmly, if he wanted to go have a time out. Immediately, “Ya!” No smile, just ready to be alone. So I walked with him to his room, put him in his bed, and left.

And he screamed his head off for a solid 30 seconds. Considering he put himself in time out, I didn’t enforce a time limit at all, and went to get him after he had been quiet just for a short period of time. He smiled when he saw me, and reached out for me. I gave him a big hug and we went on our way. We didn’t have any big discussion or anything about breakfast, because it wasn’t my intention to put him in time out. It was his! But he was in way better condition after that!

I guess sometimes a kid just needs to scream!

I couldn’t be prouder of my son. He is too wise.

How often do days really go as planned? Not too often, I guess. Plans always change, and we never know what to expect. As it should be! If it always all worked out, we would be bored. So I get it. But today was a bit off.

Laela is sleeping through the night these days (Praise the Lord!!) and is waking up around 8:00. However, she eats and goes back to bed usually in about an hour, so I think I’ll eventually get a longer night out of her. She woke up like usual this morning and wouldn’t eat!! Usually, after a long stretch, she eats around eight ounces. I had to fight for four. It was so weird! That just began her weird day of three tiny little half-naps, completely around Dekker’s nap, with almost no overlap. So I had no alone time. I am well aware that is what I signed up for, and I’m not too concerned about “alone time,” but it is what I’m used to, so habits are hard to break, right? One kid was always up, and Laela in particular was hard to settle. She was just not on her game today, and couldn’t get comfy or happy. It was a long day.

As for habits forming, I couldn’t do my smoothie today because, like I said, a kid was always sleeping. Right when I would have made my smoothie, Laela was down, and then Dekker went down, and about a half hour later, Laela was up. There wasn’t really a good time to make a ton of noise. However, I took my vitamins and my fish oil! I’m slowly getting used to taking the capsules, which is exciting! Granted, I still taste the vicious flavor if I burp at all afterwards, but if I drink tea first, and then during, my throat is all warmed up and handles them better. Its working out, and I’m pretty relieved about that. So that habit is on its way, anyway.

I’m feeling a bit… I don’t know how to describe it! I’m a bit financially annoyed. Does that make sense? I have my eye on a few things that I’d like to purchase online right now. They’re all really good deals, and would be put to good use. However, neither are needed. So I’m trying to be an adult and make good decisions. And its sooo annoying! I went back and forth on those things a bit today. Also, Brady and I are planning to upgrade our vehicle at some point this year. Yup. We are approaching Vanhood. Just simply doing that research (with the crying kids in my arms) was overwhelming. Vehicles are sooo expensive! I’m glad that we can make our car work for the time being, but not forever. Hopefully it all works out in Gods timing, because if our timing is now, its not looking so hot.

Lastly, I’m sort of in a creative “merp merp.” Can you guys hear in your heads what I mean when I say that? Its like a “womp womp” but merp merp instead. Does that make sense? Probably not. Either way, its just like a slump. I feel incredibly stunted with my crocheting. Not that my crocheting skill isn’t good enough, but that its all I know! I wish I had another creative outlet, but I really don’t! I haven’t done something artsy in so long! Granted, we’ve been pretty occupied with Dekker in the last while, I’ve been gone more than usual, and we’ve had some other priorities to take care of. So I have a good reason! But I’m just annoyed by it. Grrr!

Ok, I’m done ranting about many, many things that have nothing to do with one another. Its been a weird day. I did our dishes after Dekker went to bed, so at least some of the kitchen is clean? Maybe I’m still reeling from the full moon. Who knows. I’ll try and be better tomorrow!

Sleep well, everyone.

We were getting everyone ready for church this morning when we noticed some weird swelling on Dekker. So we ended up skipping church and going to the walk-in clinic instead. He was in great spirits, and looked incredibly adorable. Is it bad that I was concerned that no one would see his cute new vest? Well, if it is, then it was because thats how I felt 😉 The walk-in wait was about 45 minutes, but we swear by that clinic, so its worth the wait. When we were finally called, Brady took Dekker in on his own. Laela was starting to get fidgety and bored of being in her seat, and a bit too vocal for being trapped in a small room. I mean, we’ve done it many times before, but she faired well out in the waiting room with me. The boys came out in good time with good answers.

We were given an optional prescription which we decided to fill, just in case. If we suddenly needed it, we live a good hour away from our pharmacy. Brady dropped me off at Superstore and went to pick up some fast food while I waited for the prescription to be filled. However, I learned that we already have this prescription at home from a past illness! So I didn’t fill it, and ended up buying Dekker a winter coat for next year, a hoodie, and two boxes of cereal instead. We wolfed down our terrible-for-you food on the drive home, as we had places to be!

We dropped the kids off with my parents and rushed to the church. We were right to eat in the city, as we came right at the end of the lunch, but made it in time for the dessert auction! Our youth group is raising funds for a couple of trips, so a bunch of people had put together very elaborate desserts for people to bid on and donate towards. Our small group bid on desserts as a table and came out with a HUGE cake that I can’t even describe! But it was truly incredible. And filling! I drank a bit of tea, and then our group headed upstairs for our video and session from the series we’re working through. For those interested, the series is called “Love and Respect” and it is NOT your average, stereotypical, super boring series. Its really wonderful, and in just two sessions, Brady and I have pulled a lot of great info.

We spent the evening with my parents, eating a super yummy meal and playing toys with Dekker. We were on the road at a really good time and got Dekker in bed pretty close to on time. Maybe a half hour later. Laela is just having her last bottle of the day now, and then its bath and snack time. As if I need to eat more today :/

I can confidently say that today was a very challenging one. However, lucky for me, it started well and ended well 🙂 What more can a person ask for?

Laela slept through the night again, which is just amazing! One night, she woke up and we didn’t get her. She talked for an hour and fell back to sleep until the morning. The next night she screamed her face off and we buckled and fed her. And now, she’s slept through for the last three nights. I don’t want to jinx anything, but if this is it, that was the easiest sleep training I could have imagined!! Go, Laela, go!!!

Dekker had croissants, a banana, and milk for breakfast. Usually he eats a much bigger breakfast but didn’t want to today. We went downstairs to play toys afterwards and he was very cuddly, mostly just wanting to sit on Bradys lap. Which was cute, until he threw up all over the two of them. Just one big barf, but I can tell you right now, it was milk. I feel super guilty about the whole thing, so please no haters. He had milk yesterday that he hadn’t finished, so we had put the cup in the fridge, and he had drank it this morning. I’m pretty sure it must have been spoiled 🙁 Poor Dekker. It was awful. He was scared and upset, and cried and cried. Brady was sitting on the floor with him, kind of frozen, as one would be when covered in vomit and surrounded by plush carpet. I scooped Dekker off of Brady and carried him upstairs to the bathroom, where we just cuddled and waited to see if there was more coming. There wasn’t, thankfully. As I mentioned on Facebook earlier, the worst part of him getting sick was having to clean him up. Even just taking off his jammies. He had just thrown up, so he was chilled and yucky and just wailed while I peeled his soaked, chunky jammies off of his damp little body. Down to his diaper, we stood and cuddled and stayed warm while Brady ran a tub. As soon as Dekker clued in to the sound, he was done for.

The bath was among the worst we’ve ever had. I’m sure it had to do with the fact that he was sick too, but it was awful. Probably in the top five, anyway. I’m amazed he didn’t hurt himself of both of us in there. It was loud and stinky and panicked and wet and stinky. And stinky. I struggle harder with his baths because, afterwards, he wants to be as far away from me as possible. Even after all the water was drained and he was wrapped in a towel in my arms, he wouldn’t stop crying. It breaks my heart. I can’t wait until he can verbalize what he’s so scared of. It was exhausting.

After bath time, there was still time to play toys and have a really light snack. We settled on crackers and apples, and he probably only ate a couple slices of apple and no crackers at all, but I certainly wasn’t going to push. He drank a decent amount of water and seemed much more himself.

When he went down for a nap, we fed Laela and put her down as well. As soon as both kids were down, I fell asleep. Brady continued the laundry we had started, and changed the oil in the car, while I slept for two hours. It was incredible, and I felt way better. Just hoping I sleep tonight! But hey, do what you’ve got to do in the moment, I guess.

When everyone woke up, it was time for breakfast for supper. Brady made me a drink from the Kcups given to us by a friend. I’ve been slugging back the teas and pumpkin cappuccinos, but I hadn’t touched the caramel coffee yet. It is incredible!, and needs nothing added to it. Its creamy and sweet and delicious. It was exactly what I needed! We figured toast was likely the safest thing to put into Dekker after the day he had. He loved it, and ate a couple pieces without complaint. When he was finished eating, he had jam on his face, and when Brady went to wipe it, Dekker flailed his arms and knocked over half a cup of milk. It was an accident, we get that, but Dekker can get very worked up at the table and our big rule is that hands must be down. But he whacked that thing hard, and soaked himself, the table, the chairs, and the floor in milk. That took a decent amount of clean up and resulted in yet more laundry.

I was so thankful when we got downstairs and Dekker started to fade. I knew we wouldn’t have a big fight at bedtime. And we didn’t. I was prepared to just duck into his room, give him a quick kiss, and leave, but he was up for a bit of playing and cuddles! I was happy to get in some hugs and kisses and love. Now, he is fast asleep (as far as I know, anyway) and Laela is having her last bottle of the day, and hopefully for the night. Time for a considerably less violent bath time, and some Parks and Recreation reruns.

I had a few hours in the city on my own today, so I cranked my music and opened the sunroof and enjoyed them as much as possible.

I got to the city earlier than planned, so I pulled out some money from our bank for our weekly savings, as well as some money to spend on something delicious at our church’s dessert auction this Sunday. I’m really happy we’ve kept up with our “year of savings.” Its been easier than expected, since we started with the big numbers. We’re already ten weeks into the year, so today, I had to sheepishly ask for $42 from the teller. No big deal though, it worked out and the money is home safe in its jar.

From there, I hit up the chiropractor for an adjustment. My neck was in rough shape today, so the treatment felt wonderful. I told Dr. Mike that I was struggling pretty hard with taking the fish oil, and asked for advice. He said he took the oil itself once and agreed with me that it was completely horrendous. However, I can’t choke those capsules down. So he agreed with many of you, saying to just stir it into my smoothie. He said, with enough smoothie, I shouldn’t notice it. So I guess I’ll start on that then! I just can’t take pills that are the size of my head. It cannot be done.

I did a quick Superstore shop after that and I will warn all of you – everything in the kids clothing department is cute!! Beware!!! I was good and only bought Laela one shirt,

but I could have done a lot more. Again, BEWARE! Another thing I found was a WAY better deal on spinach! A 1 kg bag for $6, as opposed to a 1 lb bag for $3.50. Not a massive deal, I guess, but better. I’ll pick one up next time I need some. I still have my packs I made, and the funny little spinach bricks I blended and froze. So I’m good for now, but at least I know where to go next time.

We need to change the oil on the car, so I tried Walmart first, but they didn’t have our filter :/ So I went across the road to Canadian Tire and picked up with I needed there. It was strange to find a 5L jug of Penzoil at Walmart for $23 and the same thing at Canadian Tire for $16! I bought two, plus a filter, and somehow got $5 off at the till. Yay, savings!!

That was technically the last thing on my list, and I didn’t feel ready to go home. But it was time. On my way out, I saw Value Village on my right and couldn’t resist. I haven’t been there in ages, it seems, and it was definitely time.

And it worked out!! I’m happy to say that I found some plates that match my parents’ set. They have an older, but super durable set, and once in a blue moon, one of my siblings would surface with some dishes they had found that matched. But never me. Until today! I found five big plates for $4 only. Also, I found some really cute clothes for the kids. And I’m sorry, but now I have to show you all of them, haha!

Clearly, a good haul. All in, plates included, I only spent $15 at Value Village. Thats pretty good for me 🙂 I drove away from there feeling more successful and accomplished. I picked up coffee for Brady and my earl grey tea double double before driving to my moms to give her the plates. Soon after, I arrived home to my husband and two sleeping children. We had a restful evening, ate perogies and wings, and played toys. Now, Dekker’s sleeping, Laela is drinking her last bottle before hopefully her third full nights sleep in a row! *crossed fingers* You can do it, little girl!

Brady had to work this morning. He arrived home around 11:50am, changed his clothes, and we piled into the car with the kids and headed back to the city. Unconventional, perhaps, but its nice to all be together if we can swing it!

We got to the hospital way earlier than necessary, but ended up driving parking lots aimlessly before finally finding a spot way in the back. The temperature was fairly mild, so we figured the walk would be nice. But there was wind. Oh, was there wind! So it was a bit of a challenge to lug Laela in her car seat, but we rocked it and got up to the 4th floor in plenty of time still. Dekker hadn’t eaten much of his lunch/snack that we brought along, and his appointment was right near his regular nap time, so needless to say, Brady and I were pretty nervous about how the appointments were going to go. He ate a bit, but was pretty on edge. We have never been to the eye care centre when its been so busy! Every seat was filled. And Deks didn’t like it one bit. We actually ran into the family that was in the bed next to us on surgery day, which I got a kick out of. Their kid was pretty grumpy too, about “having to wait a thousand hours.” They were called into Dr. Rubabs office just shortly before we were called into orthoptics to check him over and gather all the info.

What we learned in orthoptics was that Dekker looks fabulous for only one month post op! She said it seemed like his left eye still had a bit of a flick to it when she would sort of tease his eyes and cover one, then the other, then back, over and over. She said Dr. Rubab would want to watch that very closely, as it could struggle a bit harder and possibly it could weaken and get worse. She said Dr. Rubab would likely ask us to start patching again because of it. But, all in, his eyes are healing beautifully. She told us he has astigmatism, which we knew nothing about. Apparently our eyes are spherical, and Dekker’s are more shaped like footballs. Because of this, he has blurry vision. And he just will. I wish I had known this going in, as our real, genuine desire was to have it all be over – glasses too. Because of this defect, he will always have to have glasses, or contacts, or something. Otherwise, he will have blurry vision, no matter what. I’m sad about that, but glasses are fine. Everyone has glasses now. Really not the worst case scenario at all 🙂

It was nice to actually get to see Dr. Rubab again. Dekker had a great appointment with her, and didn’t cry or fuss once! There’s a lot to be said for that, considering the hospital makes him nervous. She was very outwardly happy with his recovery, and said she really didn’t see that flick that was mentioned. She said there’s no more blood, no more turn, nothing. Therefore…drumroll please…no more patching!!! I do have to say this with a grain of salt, because we don’t know what the future holds. We have to go back in two months and reassess. Who knows how his eyes will look then. I’m prepared to go back to patching, but I’m very thankful to have another two months without it. God is good!

She also agreed with me that I get Laela seen sooner than later, whether I see problems or not. Babies can start being seen as early as six months, and she said I should just ask her doctor for a referral and that she would happily see them both. Such great news 🙂 It would be good to know if Laela had an astigmatism as well, since that alone will cause vision problems. I learned so much today!

Thats all I have for now. Jerilee is on the road to our house, and I’ve got to finish making supper. I hope this earlier than normal post finds you all well. I know it does for us!!

Dekker’s language skills are really picking up, and he’s finally addressing people. My poor mom is lovingly known as “Dam.” She takes it well, of course, because its so nice to be acknowledged. I know that feeling. It took quite a while for Dekker to even call me mom. In the last week only, occasionally, I’m mommy. Like when I ducked out of the church service briefly and was welcomed back to my bench with a loud “Mommyyyy!” It is adorable.

Today, Dam was a big hit. She had been in the city and picked up a couple of new toys for the kids. Laela got a stuffed caterpillar, and Dekker got a little red convertible and a pack of five bouncy balls. You wouldn’t believe how much use those toys already have! Laela has sucked face with that caterpillar quite significantly, and anytime I move her to a different place or position, Dekker brings it to her/throws it on top of her. And Dekker is thrilled with his toys! The “bussy balls” fit in all kinds of other toys, so thats been the order of the day really. And it appears that its a lot of fun to throw them all at once. When we ask him how many balls there are, he responds ” 2 4 5!” The car, so far, is another place to a ball. He hasn’t raced with it tons, but he gets somewhat distressed if he doesn’t know where it is. A definite win all around.

The kids slept well this afternoon, and Dekker was incredibly grumpy when he woke up. After supper, we went to play downstairs, and he seemed to pull it together. He insisted on telling Brady all about what had happened while he was at “wert.” Over and over again, he’d say “Dam! Balls! Dam! Car!” Then he’d run over to where the caterpillar was and say “La’s! … La’s…toy!” Solid effort 🙂 He was pretty sad to come upstairs, and Laela was exhausted too. It’ll be good to have them both sleeping soundly soon, so Brady and I can dig up something for supper. At least I’m easting a bit more these days, so I’m not completely famished by this point!

Speaking of supper, Jerilee is coming over tomorrow evening! That should get our butts in gear to actually cook something 🙂