Wordless Wednesday: Aiden and Eli

Toddler Woes

Oh lord, I'm a zombie.  Aiden was sleeping pretty well for a long time.  He would take 1 nap a day, go to bed by 7 and get up at 5 or 6.  Fine with me!  Then it became wake up once at 11pm and sleep until 6.  Okay, still manageable.  I would just kind of wait up until 11 and then go to bed.

Not so lucky anymore.  The nap time was getting shorter, 45-1hr and he would ask for milk and a nap later in the day, so we let him.  Then he started waking up more at night so we cut out that extra nap again.  It didn't seem to help.  Let me give you an example of last night....

7pm:      went to bed great. 
11pm:    woke up
238am:  woke up
309am:  still hadn't gone back to sleep, so after playing quietly he now was yelling again
338am:  woke up again?  Or never really went to sleep?
406am:  woke up again.
6am:      Aiden woke up for the day - Kris got him and I slept 3 extra hours.

Now seriously - this is just not okay!  On a normal night I can predict that I will get up at 11, 230, and again at 5 which I try to convince him to sleep another hour.

It will be my luck this continues and I have a newborn who likes to wake up at 10, 130 and 4.  I will get NO sleep between the two of them!  As it is now I have a hard time falling back to sleep after waking up.  I have to pee "just one more time", then drink water, then try to get comfortable enough to try and fall asleep - then bam, he's waking up again within the hour!  It's killing me.  Last night I was awake from 230-4 because I could barely sleep in between his waking.

Okay, I have to admit something now, and I am ashamed of it.  We use a bottle still.  Yep, he's coming up on 22 months old and should have been gone long ago - but mommy uses it as a crutch.  He drinks his milk, then gives kisses and goes to sleep.  So my problem is probably all my own fault, he wants milk before he sleeps again during the night.  See - I dug my own darn grave!

We tried letting him cry it out a few times, and the time we were serious about it it worked for like a month.  He was sleeping from 7-7 without waking up!  Then that fell apart and now it's harder to let him cry it out because he doesn't cry and fuss - he freaks out and SCREAMS at the top of his lungs which wakes everyone up.  Living with family makes it a bit tough to let him cry.  So this is why I use the bottle still - to keep the peace.  Everyone gets sleep.  Except now he is starting to bite the nipples {he's been 100% rid of binkies for a month and half now for this reason} and so we really know it's time to get rid of the bottle!

He will drink milk during the day from a cup.  He will drink regular and strawberry milk.  He will even take it from a sippy half the time during the day if I try.  But at night time if I try a sippy to put him down he refuses it and cries.  I am dreading just taking the bottles away cold turkey. 

So to wrap up my woes - he's still using a bottle, he's not sleeping all that well at night, and I'm a zombie.  *sigh*

In other news, he's getting more smart everyday.  Multiple new words a day, he copies everything, he has figured out he can reach almost anything if he uses his chair.  He has peed on the potty a bit, even saying "sit potty" sometimes, but that's just practice for now still. 

In closing Kathy Lee Gifford just said on the Today show "I have not slept one night through since my kids were born 22 years ago"  - I feel like I will be just like that.

Peanut Butter Allergy??

Anyone else have a peanut butter allergy or a child who has a bad reaction to it?  We have tried Peanut Butter a couple times now and each time this is the reaction to literally just a lick.....

His eye got swollen this time.  He gets red blotches all over, last time he had a lot more and his entire body got bad.  This time he seriously had a finger lick and within 30 minutes his eye was almost swollen shut and his face and neck got really bad hives.  His breathing seems fine, and a cool bath with baking soda and then Benedryl seems to do the trick. 

Anyone else dealing with this?    I'm soo sad - I live on peanut butter...poor Aiden. 

Adventures and Feeding Himself!

We have been working on Aiden learning to feed himself with utensils.  The only ones we can get him to use really well are the Gerber Graduates ones.  I'd highly recommend them to anyone!  The bowl they make to go with them with a lip on it to "scoop" is awesome too!  {hear me Gerber... send me some?  lol} 

He has been really good at it, here are some of the pictures I have taken!

Sick Boy & A Video

We have had a sick boy on our hands.  He got his shots on Tuesday afternoon and on Wednesday he started running a fever.  We thought at first it was just normal reaction to the shots, gave him Tylenol and went about our way.  He wouldn't eat much either, but we all had sore throats so we thought perhaps he did too. 

Wednesday night I was rocking him to sleep {an hour early because he seemed worn out and not feeling well} and 4oz into his bedtime bottle the kid went exorcist on me.  He spewed milk like a hose on high and it not only got ALL over me, but about 2.5feet away.  It was projectile vomit at it's best.  I'd never seen anything like it!  We took his temp because he was burning to the touch, 102.2.  Called the pedi.

They said it was most like the stomach bug going around or a virus.  To try Motrin instead and push pedialyte and no milk.  So we finally got him to sleep that night.  At 2am his fever was back up to 103!  By morning it was only down to 102.6.  So we went in to have him looked at.  Poor guy, they did a strep test which was awful for him, but he passed it.  It appears to be just a virus. 

The pedi said so long as he doesn't puke he can eat what he wants when he tells us he's hungry.  That he will probably have a high fever for 72 hours and if it isn't going down by Sunday to come back in.  Poor little guy, he's just been laying around in footie jammies and watching cartoons.  Eating chicken noodle soup and mini saltines.  He did start drinking milk okay again today without getting sick, but his fever is still 102.9 as of an hour ago.

Anyone else have a little one sick right now?  Is Special Agent Oso as much of a comfort to you as it is in our house?   I am enjoying all the extra cuddles and seeing my boys be sweet together, but it's really sad too.

Here is a video of sick boy waiting at the dr's.  He learned to drink from a real cup by himself without spilling. 

Aiden is 15 Months old!

Where did my baby boy go?  He's all grown up now and I can't handle it!  He is soo much fun at this age, and for the most part really well behaved. 

Aiden is:

85% for weight at 27.6lbs

99% for height at 35.5inchs - almost 3 feet!  He has always been 99% for height!

He took his shots like a big boy, they were in his arms this time and it made it worse.  He actually saw it happening and the look on his face was awful, he was soo upset and the big tears.  The nurse had a hard time holding him to give him his shots, she said "boy he's strong!" and Kris had to help hold him.  Also the nurse forgot that he was only 15 months old!  The Dr. said he's doing great, and would like him to be off the bottle at 18 months.

-   He got his first real haircut, bye bye curls.

-   He has 14 teeth cut

-   He wears mostly 24 month and 2T because he's soo long.

-   He laughs when he farts

-   He copies you when you burp, cough or make any other mouth noise

-   He ate part of his first crayon this week, hello blue poop!

-   He managed to open his bedroom door by himself yesterday

-   He can go up and down stairs standing holding the wall/the rail or you hand with one hand

-   He can climb up onto EVERYTHING - desks, beds, toilets, tubs, bar stools etc, climbs down too

-   He sits in chairs likes a big boy to eat, doesn't like to use his booster or high chair

-   He can tell you what he wants, he will grab your arm and pull you and then point or just stand and point

-   He still won't sleep through the night consistently which sucks for us

-   He hasn't eaten much if any baby food in months, he still likes the Gerber snacks though

-   He can open all boxes, latches, locks

-   He turns on and off the lights and knows "on and off" if you ask him

-   Here is a list of words he can say:  Bye, No, Yes, Woof Woof for dog {he makes the sound}, Nana for banana, mama, Dad {he yells this often}, Yeff {as in uncle Jeff}, Bra {as in uncle Brock}, he says Lola sometimes and has said "Lita" which is his Lola's name, all done, duck, uh-oh, good girl, thank you, hello, ahh {like to open his mouth and eat", nigh nigh, he has said a few phrases like "that one", "right there", he knows "book" and bath he says "baff", he says "ha" for hot, he understands sit, lie down, bring it to me or "share".  That's just the things I can think of off the top of my head.

Goodbye Curls

Well it finally had to happen... bye bye curls.  He looks like a handsome young man, who may or may not be enlisting in the military lol....

Wordless Wednesday - Picture Overload!!

I am way behind in sharing pictures of Aiden with everyone.... So this wordless Wednesday is a little catch up....

Included are:  Playing Pots and Pans.  Playing with gramps at the train table in the store.  Being in/on Daddy's car and telling his Lolo to fix the car.  Playing the keyboard like Ray Charles {without anyone showing him how to play it}.  Cheering on the Huskies!  Go UW!  Enjoying a little sized Jamba Juice of his own.  Lastly, playing in his ball pit.

Aiden's First Happy Meal!

Kris and Aiden went for a "cruise" in daddy's car.  They cruised around for a while enjoying all the stares they got.  Then Aiden got fussy, so what's a dad to do?  Get Aiden his first Happy Meal!  So here you have it, proof that he LOVED his happy meal toy {first picture}, his chicken nuggets {he ate 4 out of the 6}, and his fries.  He even shared with Daddy {they parked and had a picnic in the car}. 

Halloween!

Halloween!

Scooby Doo was a big hit! Aiden got to go trick or treating not once, but twice this year. On Friday my mom’s work was having a trick or treat and Halloween party for all employees and families. There was a big turn out and Aiden ended up being the hit of the party. Everyone who saw him commented on how wonderful his costume was and how realistic he was. He would even “woof” when asked to.

Aiden got to be a pro at picking up candy and putting it in his bag. He would look for a minute and then pick one and drop it in his bucket. Then he often tried to go back for more. One of my mom’s coworkers even gave him her plastic pumpkin she had her candy in because he liked it so much. We had a lot of fun. Aiden loved a little dinosaur and a little lady bug. One man was a penguin and Aiden wasn’t so sure about that.

His second adventure in trick or treating wasn’t as much of a success. On Halloween night itself Aiden was sound asleep at 7pm and we decided we better wake him up or he wouldn’t be going out at all. We took him first to visit his Lola and Aunts {Kris’ family} and they thought he was just the bee’s knees. He had fun taking ALL of their candy. Then we just went walking around the 1 block area by the house.

I carried him around because he was kind of grumpy. He did smile for the people who had dogs and one old man, but otherwise he was not so social. Guess that’s what happens when you wake him up. Once we got back around to the house he trick or treated there too. He grabbed the big bowl of candy and his Lolo and poured it all on the floor – then proceeded to take the candy. He sure is a cute kid.

All the pictures here are from his first day trick or treating. Kris and I are already worrying about how we are going to surpass such a great costume next year!