Things starting to look up!

Well, if I had done another post at the end of last week, the title would have been must less optimistic. The last three or four days have been much better on both the Adam and Lynsey fronts!

Adam - on Sunday night, he slept straight from 10pm until 5am. I woke up at 4:30 after sleeping 5.5 hours straight and had that feeling that I used to have when I would sleep until 11 on Saturdays - like I'd had too much sleep or something:). Monday night, he woke up a few times for his soother, but again didn't need to eat until 5:30! This was terrific news because last week, he was eating monstrous amounts again. I was ready to give him cereal even though he's not even three and a half months old - I didn't know what to do with my hungry boy! Last night wasn't the greatest, but I'm hoping the bad nights will become the exception and not the rule - I'll keep you posted. I am now giving him one bottle of formula in the mid-morning, one bottle of breastmilk at noon and one bottle of half-formula half-breastmilk before bed, nursing the rest of the time. It seems to be working right now, so hopefully he gives me more nights where he doesn't need to eat until 5 or so! He is becoming louder in his "talking" and even laughed a pretty good laugh on Sunday! Oh and what a big boy - I got him weighed and measured yesterday and he is 17 lb and 9 oz, 25.5 inches long. Yikes! Lynsey wasn't that heavy until she was around 7 months old! I like having a chubby baby - his big thighs are so cute:).

Lynsey - well, last week was a bit of a rough one. I wanted to let go of the potty training and just not care, but as it turns out, I wasn't totally ready to do that yet. I put her back in panties on Tuesday and we had a lot of frustrating moments throughout the week. On Friday, Brian and I went out for dinner and a movie to celebrate our anniversary, and we had a really good talk about the whole potty training fiasco - he helped me see that she may well be doing her best, but was maybe not physically able to tell when she needs to pee yet. It really made me think and suddenly I was able to see things in a different light. Since that night, she has done sooo much better. I have her in pullups most of the day, but she never pees in them! She is starting to tell me more and more when she needs to go and often holds her pee all morning. All in all, I am so much more relaxed and I think she can tell. Another good thing is that she is starting to ask for regular panties and seems to really want to wear them instead of pullups - finally some leverage! Anyway, I don't know if I would call her fully trained because she still pees most nights (although she was dry again this morning) but she is definitely close. I'm so proud of her!

What else is she doing - she has started asking me to take pictures of her all the time, hence the posed pictures of her to follow. Her play has reached a new level in some areas - we were playing Barbies today and she was talking for her Barbie to another Barbie and it was just so cute:). Most definitely she's a little girl now and no longer a baby by any stretch of the imagination!

Easter in Edmonton, Potty training struggles continue

We just got back from spending Easter in Edmonton, and had a really good time! Lynsey got to participate in her first Easter Egg hunts and she loved them:). It was good to spend some time with both of our families.

Adam is doing well - happy as ever. He has had some really good nights, and some not so great nights. Over the last week or so, I have been trying some different things with regards to feedings, trying to get him to eat more during the day so that he doesn't need to eat so much at night. I have been pumping and giving him bottles, because I thought maybe he would drink more from a bottle since he has basically stopped breast-feeding on one side. That didn't make a huge difference, but it did help to make his last bottle at night half formula half breast milk. He seems to be sleeping better, although he still has some bad nights (last night being one of them). I have been struggling with nursing lately, really not enjoying it much. A part of me really just wants to go to formula, but I'm also sad to think of doing that. I feel like I should make it until at least 6 months. Pumping is an okay option, but it takes a lot of time that I don't really have and therefore not really sustainable in the long term. For now, I am going to breast feed most of the day but just throw in at least one bottle of breast milk during the day and the formula bottle right before bed. I have to believe he will not be so hungry at night for too much longer. He has started sort of half chuckling over the last few weeks, but I wouldn't really call it a true giggle yet. He likes it when Brian swings him around, and I've discovered he likes fresh air in his face, which is fantastic! We put him in the baby swing at Brian's parents house, and he fell asleep a few separate times! This bodes well for the summer, since we will inevitably be spending the bulk of our time at various parks.

Onto Lynsey! Oh, how I hate potty training. If I knew 4 weeks ago what I know now, I would not have started. We had been resorting to taking her every hour or hour and a half so that she wouldn't have accidents, but it has become increasingly evident that she does not care one bit at this point. I put her in a pullup all day today and didn't ask her to go JUST to see if she would care, and she didn't tell me once all day that she needed to go. I told her she wouldn't get a fresh pullup every time she peed, and it seems she still doesn't care. I think (really hope!) that she will still poop on the potty, since she has been telling us about that one all along, but I am at the point where I am going to put pullups on her during the day and just let her do what she wants. I do not have the mental strength to deal with this right now, and I really question the value of forcing her to go pee every hour JUST because we know she can. Is she smart enough? Clearly. That is not the issue. She simply doesn't care, and I don't care enough to try and make her care right now (if that's even possible!). I fear I will receive some criticism for this, but my sanity is more important to me than bragging about my 2 year old being "trained". I put "trained" in quotes because I really don't feel like a kid that needs to be forced to go is trained. I don't understand the societal pressure to potty train a 2 year old anyway - I will definitely wait longer with subsequent kids to start training. Changing diapers is a whole lot easier than dealing with an unwilling potty trainer. Anyway, it is my sincere hope that sometime soon she will start caring and start telling me when she wants to go on the potty. I do not intend to give her fresh pullups throughout the day (as mentioned before) so she might eventually get tired of feeling wet all the time, who knows. All I know is that with having a feeding dilemma with my three month old, trying to potty train an unwilling toddler is just not doing anything for my sanity.

Some potty training setbacks, but FINALLY sleep is coming!

The last few weeks have definitely had some highs and lows, especially where Lynsey is concerned. Her potty training progress seems to be two steps forward, one big step back. Last week, she had her first "dry" morning (Pullup was dry) and it was so exciting! Two days in a row she didn't pee at night! Those days were also better than before - she started being able to go longer periods during the day without peeing, and telling me when she had to go. Things were really looking up! However, things haven't continued to be this good, unfortunately. She was dry about every other morning for about a week, but now it's been four mornings in a row where she's been wet. She has also virtually stopped telling me when she has to go - I have to coax her to go, even after her nap when I KNOW she needs to. The other day, she had two accidents in a row for what seemed like no good reason. I was so incredibly angry - I really don't have the patience for these kinds of setbacks, as normal as they may be. This morning, she refused to go pee before we left the house, and as I was telling her that she had to go pee on the potty, she looks at me and says, "No, I pee in my panties". Luckily, she didn't follow through and actually do it, but the fact that she said it was enough to really frustrate me. I have to believe that soon enough, going on the potty will become second nature and she will stop thinking that just peeing whenever she feels like it is an option. I just hope it's sooner rather than later.

Continuing on with Lynsey news, she has really been testing both Brian and I lately, not just on the potty front. Often when we ask her to do something she doesn't want to, she turns away from us and makes some lame excuse like, "I just have to play with this right now" or something like that. She also seems to recognize that when I'm feeding Adam is a time where obedience isn't immediately enforced, and takes advantage. She continues to be a huge Daddy's girl, which can be a bit annoying at times (especially when she cries out for him during the night). I still maintain that I do not need to be woken up by my toddler when I'm already waking up several times at night for my baby! That has gotten a bit better, although last night she did it again and in desperation, I took her into our bed for a little while. Adam was sleeping so well I just didn't want him to be woken up by her! Another thing that she has really started becoming more interested in is changing her clothes. Usually when I go into her room after her nap she has changed her clothes several times. It's an interesting phase that could become quite frustrating, but so far she hasn't picked a lot of fights about what she's wearing when we go somewhere (although I'm sure that's not too far down the road).

Onto Adam! He has started sleeping MUCH better! What used to be his best night (three consecutive hours of sleep) is pretty much like a bad night now. He quite regularly sleeps at least one four - five hour stretch, which doesn't sound fantastic, but is light years better than where we were three weeks ago. I finally gave in and just put him on his tummy to sleep at night. I know, I'm terrible, but he just sleeps so much better on his tummy. He has definitely become less gassy both during the day and at night, which has really helped as well. He's still a really relaxed baby during the day, making him fairly easy to take care of right now. Today I put him on his tummy for some "tummy time", and he just put his head down and fell asleep. I have seriously considered getting a DNA test to make sure that him and Lynsey are related! Last weekend, I flew down to Grande Prairie to visit with Jake and Melanie, and he did so well all weekend. He slept his first 6.5 hour stretch while I was there! HURRAY! Apparently he was born to fly as well, sleeping the whole way both there and back:). I had a great visit with Jake and Mel - I'm so glad I went!

Just this week, I have started getting serious about losing some weight and getting back in shape. I don't know why it's taken me this long - maybe because I'm finally getting a decent night's sleep here and there, I don't know. All I know is that I am finally committed to doing some exercise and eating better. This week I managed to get out for a good walk/jog twice so far, and hopefully will again tomorrow. It's hard with two kids, but not impossible - I just have to be determined!

Growth Spurts and Potty Training

Well, as you can tell from the title of this post, we've been busy this week! Adam is growing again and eating constantly. The last few nights he's been eating every 2.5 - 3 hours again, but at least he is only waking up to eat. It has actually been more relaxing the last few nights because I know that when he cries, he needs to eat. Previously, he was crying every hour almost some nights, and I knew he wasn't always hungry, making it harder to know why he was crying or what to do. In other news on Adam, he had his first shots on Wednesday and he did really well. His crying didn't even escalate when she stuck the needle in his leg! I was really confused at his weight, though - they had him at 14 lb 3 oz and 23.5 inches long. That's a few ounces less than he supposedly was three weeks ago and the same length. The length doesn't alarm me, because I never trust length measurements, but the weight really made me wonder. I'm more convinced than ever that when the midwife weighed him at 7 weeks, there must have been something wrong with the scale. I was pretty shocked back then at how heavy they said he was. In any case, he is still a very healthy weight. He continues to be a great baby during the day, and I am once again very hopeful that he will start sleeping better once he stops being so hungry!

Onto what is new with Lynsey! On Sunday, Lynsey was peeing on the potty as she did on occasion, and I reminded her that one day "soon", she would have to wear panties and pee on the potty all the time. In an unexpected twist, she runs out of the bathroom saying, "I want to wear panties!". I was like, "Are you sure??". I really didn't want to do this now. Being this tired, I knew that my patience would be short. However, she forced my hand - if she's asking for panties, we have to train her. Praise God, she got it this time! She has been doing so well! The first day, she went about half-in-half - a few accidents, but a few pees on the potty. Monday morning started a bit rough, but she then proceeded to poop on the potty on her own while I was feeding Adam and couldn't even help her! I can't even tell you how incredibly excited I was. It just made my day! She rarely has accidents anymore, although she is definitely not reliable during naptime yet - about half the time she pees during her nap. She is also nowhere near being trained at night, although this morning she didn't pee in her "Princess panties" (otherwise known as Pullups) as soon as she woke up, because Brian managed to get her to pee a bit on the potty. Pullup was still wet, so we know she is peeing at night still, but at least she didn't automatically pee when she woke up. This is a small step on the road to her learning to hold it at night. We've had a few battles this week, and a few not-so-accidental accidents, but overall, she is really doing well. I give God all the glory for this, because He knew I would not be able to handle a really big struggle with her right now. I have absolutely no advice for anyone trying to potty train their kid - I just got lucky with a little girl who was finally ready to just do it. She is currently in training panties all the time except at night, and when we leave her in the church nursery. A few times I have put a Pullup on her at naptime, but I think I will stop doing that - she has proven that she can hold it for up to 3 hours so far, so if I have to wash sheets a few times to get her to understand that she needs to hold it, I guess that's what I'll have to do.

So that is what we've been up to this last week! It's been exhausting with ups and down, but I am so thankful that she got it this time.

Sleep still eludes us, but life is good!

Well, the night of my last blog post, Adam slept a 4.5 hour stretch - it was a small miracle! Unfortunately, he hasn't repeated it:(. Sleep continues to be a big struggle, although he hasn't repeated the fussiness I spoke of in my last post (with the exception of an hour or two a few days ago). He still struggles with gas during the night, and has had a stuffy nose for the last week or so as well. Yesterday, Brian and I decided it was time to try and keep him up more during the day to see if that would translate into more sleep at night. He did sleep a bit better last night, so we are continuing with our strategy today. We are trying not to hold him until he falls asleep - as soon as he looks lazy, we put him down. This usually translates into him waking up immediately, although a few times he has managed to fight his way back to sleep. We are pretty convinced that if he gets better at falling asleep on his own AND is more tired at night, he will start sleeping better. He has only been eating once at night for the last week or so with the exception of only one night, so hunger isn't his biggest problem at night. Anyway, we'll see how this goes. It just has to get better, doesn't it??

Aside from the sleep thing, Adam is doing great:). Such a cutie, smiling and cooing up a storm! He has started enjoying his baths a lot more, even kicking and splashing a bit yesterday! It's fun to see him get more interactive.

Lynsey continues to grow up and amaze us with her intellect:). Using complete sentences and some pretty big words, she is a very good communicator. She is no longer a problem to drop off at the church nursery, and we don't even take her blanket along anymore! One thing that has been a problem lately is that she is getting up at night more (that's all we need!). She calls out for Brian and all he has to do is go and tuck her in, but I am a bit worried that this will become a habit instead of just being a phase she goes through. I know Adam's crying at night does affect her, so hopefully once he starts sleeping better, so will she. She also gets up around 7 these days, which is just too early for her - she starts getting whiny by noon. Oh, well - I'm sure she'll sort herself out eventually.

I got my double stroller last week! The weather has been good so we've been out several times with it. Lynsey sits quite well in it actually - she asks to walk, but I tell her she has to sit at least until a certain point and she doesn't make a fuss about it. I let her get out and walk for a while, but when I tell her it's time to get back in, she is pretty good about it. Thank goodness for that! I have been able to get some good walks in, and really hope that walking and possibly even jogging this Spring/Summer will help me reach my weight loss goals.