sleep training

We are on night number 2 of sleep training. i decided to give it a try since we have been rocking Van to sleep for sometimes an hour plus and then he wakes up after 10 minutes and we have to start all over again. Last night was the first night(if you want to call it that). I let him cry for 5 minutes and couldn't take it any longer and went in and got him. Then Brent rocked with him until he was OUT. Tonight, after rocking him for over an hour i was exhausted and had stuff to do so i decided to give it another try. i put him down and he cried for 5 minutes, then stopped and cried for about 3 more minutes and then went to sleep. That was the first time he went to sleep on his own since he was a newborn. Now, i know more than anyone that once you start bragging on your baby's sleep they throw a change up the next night and all hell breaks lose. SO...we will see what the rest of the week brings:) I can deal with less than 10 minutes of crying if he goes to sleep on his own. After i hit post on this, he will probably wake up:)

11 weeks old!

Well, clearly i am not the best blogger:) Some people ask me "what do you do all day long, i could never stay home?" Let me tell you, i am always doing something! There is always someone to play with, a load of laundry to do(literally almost every day), cleaning, dishes, dinner etc. And if i'm lucky i can get in a quick shower and maybe get to dry my hair and put on some makeup. Now i know things will calm down, especially once Sadie gets back to school, but for now there is not much sitting down. I usually get to catch up on some shows while i'm nursing Van(until Sadie comes in and requests to watch Peppa Pig over and over and over again). So, from here on out my goal is to update the blog once a week(hopefully:))

Here are Van's 2 month stats. 10 lbs 14 oz, 22 1/4 inches long. i forgot head circ but everything was 25th percentile. He is just growing like crazy. I love him so very much:) He is such a happy baby too. He usually eats, has some awake time and play time and during this time he just smiles and coos and giggles...it is so sweet. then he takes a nap and wakes up and does it all over again. He sleeps through tantrums, dogs barking, etc. He doesn't love the car. Somehow we have never had that baby who you can just bring in a restaurant and they just go to sleep. Van will not fall asleep in his car seat. If you put him in there asleep he will sleep but will never fall asleep in there. Guess no restaurants for us for a while:)

Sadie went through a pretty rough patch for a while there but i'm VERY happy to say that we have our sweet girl back. What i thought was a very severe case of the terrible threes(yes threes, two is not so bad afterall) was a bad case of sleep deprivation. We thought for a while there that she was ready to drop her nap and go to bed early so we did that for a while. bad idea. after about a week she was a nightmare. everything was a meltdown. So, i got all my old sleep books out and read up. turns out she was just way tired..needed an afternoon nap AND an early bedtime. So now she takes an afternoon nap around 1 for about and hour and a half and goes to bed around 8. I like early bedtimes:)
She is also on her way to being fully potty trained. I don't think it's a coincidence that after she started catching up on sleep that she started having less accidents. She also is mommys favorite helper:) she wants to help me with everything. From changing Van's diaper to cooking dinner, to washing my face..i mean everything. Sometimes things take much longer to do, but i don't think i'll ever get tired of hearing "can i help mommy?"

I guess i'll leave on that note..save some stuff for next weeks blog:)

short post

Just a quick post to say that i am back from my break of taking pictures! I have started scheduling some sessions so if you know of anyone in the market for some pictures send them my way!!

quiet time

It has been quiet in the Winzeler household this afternoon. Both kids have been asleep for a while now and instead of taking a nap myself i decided to catch up (WAY up) on getting the house in order. I have to admit i feel much better getting everything done than when i do when i wake up from a nap and nothing is done. I'm still trying to get the hang of keeping the house in one piece and making sure both kids are eating/sleeping etc. I think yesterday i forgot to make Sadie lunch! Van is starting on reflux medicine today..poor little guy has been refluxing for some time now and he is so uncomfortable. Hopefully the first meds we try will help and we won't have to put him on the medicine Sadie was on bc it's super expensive. Other than that we are all doing great!!

2 weeks old

Hard to believe Van is already 2 weeks old..well just about anyways. Today we went in for his 2 week check up..we went in a couple days earlier than our original appt bc i had a couple questions i needed answered and didn't want to wait until the end of the week and definitely didn't want to go twice. So 1 day shy of 2 weeks he is 6 lbs 11.5 oz(yes he gained almost 12 oz in 8 days!), he is 20 inches long(grew 1 inch in 8 days also) so he is growing like a little weed! They say right now he is long and lean, 25 percentile for weight and head and 50 for height. He is still a great baby(knock on wood) and so far no signs of the extremely fussy baby we had with adorable almost 3 year old. He is pretty content when he is awake, just likes to look around. He really only fusses when he is getting changed or is ready to eat. Night times are still hard...he wakes up a lot to eat and grunts and makes a LOT of noises in his sleep. I can honestly say i forgot how hard the first few weeks(probably months) are. Sadie is still doing great with him and is really happy now that she isn't sick anymore and can give him lots of love:) She is going to be the best big sister:)

Welcome to the world, Van Thomas Winzeler!

Our little guy is finally here! After a very easy labor, Van Winzeler was born on May 19, 2011 at 1:14 pm. He weighed 6 lbs 5 oz and was 21 inches long(although he did have a conehead so he was actually only 19 inches long:)). He is so perfect and such a great baby. He was alert from the get go. And apparentley he takes after his daddy:) Sadie has not skipped a beat. It's like she was born to be a big sister. She wants to help with everything..from putting him down for a nap to helping to change his diaper. She adores him. I can't tell you how many times a day she says "look at him...he's so cute" in her sweet little voice. I have to say i miss her a lot. Exclusively breastfeeding (and Van has been eating a LOT) takes lots of time away from her. I can't wait for things to get just a little easier and i can spend more time with her again. My mom went back to work today so it was me all alone with Sadie and Van. Sadie is also sick:( My mom is going to come back tomorrow and friday to help out a little with her bc she just doesn't feel well and needs a little more attention that i can give her right now. We are adjusting great and are really looking forward to watching Van grow!

And props to Brent for capturing this sweet picture at the hospital(with a little guidance:))

homestretch!

I have 9 days to go(give or take) and i have never been more ready! Don't get me wrong, the thought of 2 babies makes me a little nervous but i'm ready for the challenge:) So crazy to think that it's almost time for him to be here. I am extremely nervous this time around because with Sadie i was induced because of PIH (pregnancy induced hypertension) so everything was kind of scheduled. As of now, my blood pressure seems to be normal, which is great, but i am a little nervous about "going into labor". I have heard so many stories of how much faster the second one is etc. and i am very anxious right now about everything! My labor with Sadie was really fast already so how much faster can it get? I guess i'm scared that i won't get to the hospital in time:) I think we are about 90% sure of the name, so at least i don't have to be anxious about that anymore:)

As far as Sadie goes, she has been a little challenging lately..i know, great timing right? She is changing SO much at such a fast pace, she is having a hard time keeping up. First off, her imagination is out of this world. It is constantly racing. It's great and all and i know it's part of her age but it is affecting everything. She has a hard time going to sleep bc of it. She is also getting very manipulating. She completely understands what we are telling her yet she will cry/ have a tantrum etc. just to see if we will give in. The trick here is to NOT give in:) A lot of times this is easier said than done! For the most part we stick to it and hopefully this manipulating stage won't last that long(yea right:)). We are starting to wonder if she may be ready to drop her afternoon nap. The ONLY night this week that she went to bed without a huge meltdown was the day i decided not to let her nap. That day was very difficult. She slept 11 hours that night and was in be at 7:30 which was awesome. These days she doesn't fall asleep until 9:30/10 or sometimes later. The only problem was she woke up at 6:30 that morning and there was just no way she could make it until bedtime. Sooo, we went back to naps, just taking them much earlier and no longer than 2 hours. So far, it has not worked. I guess tomorrow we will try no nap again, and maybe bedtime at 7pm rather than 7:30. and just hope that eventually she will adjust and get at least 12 hours of sleep. Wish us luck these next couple weeks...we will surely need it!!