Getting on a schedule . . . relief!

I feel like I blog fairly often, and yet when it comes time to do it again, I am still overwhelmed by everything that I have thought throughout the week that I should blog about, and have already forgotten:(. I do my best to highlight all the important events of my children's lives (I sure hope you kids will appreciate this later!) and yet I know I'm missing stuff along the way. Oh, well - at least I'm trying!

Nathan is getting on a bit of a schedule! Hurray! I have such a hard time these early months when my babies just aren't on a schedule yet - how can you make appointments? Plan playdates? How do you know when your baby is going to need to eat and sleep more than a few hours in advance? It's so hard! We're not completely there yet, but it's definitely gotten better in the last week or so. He hasn't been eating at night for about a week (with the exception of two nights ago when he was definitely hungry at 4:30 - what was that about??) and he's getting 5 feedings during the day. I started him on morning cereal a few days ago, and I'm hoping to get him cut down to four feedings some time soon (although I have only ever done this with my kids when they were already on the bottle, so I'm not sure if it will happen while still breastfeeding?). I am now giving him a bottle of formula for his last feeding before bed, and I'm thinking that over the next month, I will slowly be weaning him off breastfeeding. It is so hard to nurse with him constantly looking around, pulling, etc. My milk supply is having a hard time keeping up with him at this point anyway. Six months is always my goal, and I think I should be able to make it until then:). His naps are good some days, bad other days. Often he only has three naps, but on days when he is only sleeping 45 minutes at a time, he has to have at least four, especially since he struggles with staying up for even an hour and a half at a time.

All in all, I'm happy that he's becoming a bit more predictable! And he's such a happy baby still! He loves his jolly jumper and exersaucers, and is rolling all over the place! In my last post I mentioned that he was ALMOST rolling back to tummy, and he mastered it like a day after that:). We put him in his gym and a few minutes later, he's rolled to the couch! He's the first of my kids to roll both directions this young! When he's on his tummy, he is working hard at advancing himself, digging in those knees so he can push forward. Early crawler maybe?? I was looking back at old posts from when Adam was a baby, and I also thought he might be an early crawler - HA! Mother doesn't always know best:).

Adam is starting to communicate to us when he needs help with something, which is a big help to US. He will come and take my hand and lead me to something and tell me he wants something, and the other day he actually said "Want to help you" (he still hasn't mastered pronouns) and then when I asked him what he wanted help with, he told me what he wanted (it was the bubble solution:)). It's a process with him, and he's had a few rough days now with lots of screaming and frustration, but we're pretty sure that's because he's been a bit under the weather again. He does not seem to handle being sick very well at all! Bedtimes have been a nightmare again! Hopefully once he kicks this cold he'll settle back down again. I can't tell you how frustrating the screaming and destructive behaviour is. I just want to scream back at him, even though I know it's counter-productive! His communication skills are slowly improving, and I have hope that the tantrums will continue to lessen with time. Somehow I just have to ensure that he never gets a cold again haha!:) He is such a funny boy sometimes. Brian put on this big Cat in the Hat type hat at his parents house, and every time Adam looked at him, he would start giggling away! And then he put it on himself and thought that was just hilarious as well! I wish I could see inside his little head to know what he was thinking - how much does he understand about what's going on? What does he think about his little world? Such a special little guy:).

I have such an independent little girl - she would like it if we never had to help her with another thing in her life:). I don't think I blogged about this, but several weeks ago, she mastered pumping on the swing - such a milestone! One more thing she can do all by herself! I took her clothes shopping last Saturday while we were in Edmonton (Brian's brother was visiting from Manitoba with his family) and she told me when we got to the store in no uncertain terms that SHE was going to pick everything out. And she did. I tried to negotiate on a few items, but I have learned the hard way that if she doesn't like something I buy, she will NOT wear it without a MAMMOTH blowup (which I have also learned is just not worth it). I tried to steer her away from racks of stuff that I really didn't like, but in the end, I was okay with everything she picked:). I know her independence will serve her well in her life! Must remind myself of that on a daily basis!

Family Campout, Birthday, etc.

It's been a busy two weeks since my last post! Two weekends ago, we had our family campout at Camp Kuriakos by Sylvan Lake. It was a great weekend! The weather was fabulous and everyone had a great time:). The kids loved it! Lynsey had a great time bonding with her little cousins, and even attempted a sleepover with Georgia and Julia in Tina and Danny's trailer on Saturday night. She made it until 12:45am and then Tina brought her back - she had woken up crying for me and was not easily comforted. We'll try again another time:). Adam loved being able to wander the grounds and the building we were staying in. It was a bit high maintenance keeping track of him and following him around, but I'm glad he had fun! I just love our family camps - such a great time to reconnect with family that lives far away and share some funny stories:). Margaret and Menno came over after the campout on Sunday and stayed overnight so they could go to the zoo on Monday. It's so nice to have that finished basement so people can stay with us!

My birthday was on Thursday, so on Tuesday, Coraleah and Larissa came over to babysit so Brian and I could celebrate. We went to the Vintage Chophouse for some DELICIOUS steak and went for a walk by the river. It was a great evening! On my actual birthday, I took the kids to the Airdrie spray park in the morning and then we all went central vac shopping in the afternoon. Brian installed it this weekend and I'm loving finally having a proper vacuum:). Adam doesn't love it, but he seems to be a bit more okay with it then our other vacuum, which is nice. Our friends Ryan and Ruthy came on Friday to stay with us for the weekend. We had a full house with lots of friends and family this weekend! Ryan and Ruthy left Sunday morning, and then for supper we had a bunch of the Kroeker clan over for a barbeque because Matt and Kirsten were in town. It was a lot of fun, but I am happy to just sit in my house and do nothing today:).

Nathan has been working hard at his rolling skills over the last few weeks! Last Sunday night (just over a week ago) was the first time we found him rolled onto his back in the crib, and since then he's been doing it more and more. He has not quite managed the roll from his back to his tummy yet - he is SOO close, he just can't quite get over his arm. He fought sleep so much over the campout weekend that it brought back lots of memories of Lynsey as a baby. Too much going on to sleep! He has had a few pretty good stretches over the last few weeks - one 9.5 hour stretch and one 9 hour one. He can go 10 hours without eating pretty regularly, but he still wakes up often most nights. He's had a bit of a cold which isn't helping, but even when he's been healthy he still has lots of wake ups at night just for his soother basically. I know it will come, but I'm impatient for some consistent sleep!

Adam is doing so much better with company at our house these days. He hardly screamed at all this weekend, and we had lots of company all the time! One thing he has done a few times in the last few months is go to sleep when he's feeling overwhelmed by everyone. He did it a while back when my nephews were over, and again last night when we had all the Kroekers over. We hadn't seen him in a while and around 8pm, Lynsey came downstairs to tell us that Adam was asleep in his bed. Poor little guy - I think he has a lot of anxiety about all the people and tends to retreat to soothe himself. I am encouraged that he is at least finding a way to deal with it instead of screaming and throwing things down the stairs. Progress!

Lynsey has got to be one of my greatest teachers right now:). I was annoyed this morning because I couldn't find Nathan's soother, so I pretty much ordered her to help me find it. She refused, but I found it right then anyway, and then she proceeded to tell me that I should go spend some time by myself if I was angry. The Positive Discipline we are practicing tells you that when a problem arises with a child, that you should ask the child if he/she wants to go somewhere (room, etc.) until he/she feels better, and then deal with the problem. Lynsey was suggesting that instead of me taking out my frustration on her (which I was clearly doing!) I should go somewhere else until I felt better. As humbling as it is when your kid points out what you're doing wrong, I was pretty proud that Positive Discipline is really starting to sink in with her!

Cereal time!

Nathan started cereal last week! Just as we did with the other kids, when he turned four months (and we're talking the DAY he turned 4 months!) we tried a bit of rice cereal:). He did pretty well the first day, and he has been doing better and better every day since! You'd think he had been starving up until this point the way he gobbles it up:). He now goes between 9 and 10 hours at night between feedings (last night was 10 so I'm hoping to continue to stretch it out). He still gets up once or twice at night just needing his soother or a pat on his back, but it's not too bad - he's only 4 months old and has a 12 hour night. I am perfectly happy with that! His naps are okay, not great - some days they are pretty bad, but overall, he's figuring out how to sleep. And he's still a happy baby! He devours anything that gets in his path (wondering how far away those bottom two teeth are!) and has been grabbing toys for a while now.

Adam was a bit sick this last week which was unfortunate. I don't know if I've mentioned this before, but he loves to count to 10 and is still singing his heart out:). I do wonder where he will end up musically . . . he might have the patience for piano lessons before Lynsey even does!

Lynsey got her preschool vaccinations yesterday along with Nathan getting his 4 month shots (they both did great!). She is also going to VBS this week at the church which she has really enjoyed! It's neat to see her do the things that I really enjoyed growing up, and I'm loving the questions that are coming from it. Today she was talking about the "bad men" that put a crown with "not very nice things" (I suggested that she meant "thorns" and she agreed:)) on Jesus' head and that it made her sad. It opened the door to lots of other questions and it's cool that I have the opportunity to guide this impressionable little girl towards the Truth:). I can only hope and pray that she holds on to what she learns and as she grows older forms her own solid belief in God.

We got a King sized bed yesterday - where has that thing been all our married life?? Sooo comfy and the kids can actually lay in there in the morning without us hanging off the side of the bed:).