#photoadayMay

The month of May according to my Instagr.am feed.

Here comes June.  And summer.  And oh my goodness.

Disney Baby

I know everyone and their dog enters contests like this.  So we figured we'd throw our bean into the mix too.  Why not.

If you feel so inclined, we would love a few votes for this little monkey.

VOTE FOR ME!

Utah Trip

It started and ended in St. George with a little Salt Lake City in between.
There were good times.  There were times when the kids were tired and grumpy and I thought they were trying to ruin my vacation.  But mostly, there were good times.  It was fun to spend some time with my sister and my husband and see some of my cousins and an old friend.  Only wished there was more time, as usual.

If you didn't see the snaps I posted on Instagr.am, here they are.
And here are a whole bunch more!

Some of the highlights included Art City Trolley, Park City, Temple Square, City Creek (my personal favorite), Blue Plate Diner, and a park that I can't remember the name of.  It had a little lake and lots of birds.

Parleys?  Something like that.  I forgot to get any pictures of family we visited or friends we saw.  You can tell I am a true professional.

This Mother's Day...

I slept until 8:30.  My husband suggested I sleep until noon, but I didn't want the day to get away from me. A sure sign that I'm getting old!

I watched the "1st Mother's Day" video that my husband made for me last year.  I cried.  Again.

I had a week filled with lovely surprises, including chocolate covered strawberries and flowers.

I started the day with Challah Bread French Toast.  Yumma.

My gift from the huz was out of this world.  It gave me heart palpitations.  Can you guess what it was?  (Get your mind outta the gutter!)

Stevie gave me kisses in his own special way.  With a big open mouth.  Around here we call them bah-cheegs.

I did some ironing.  Hey, some things need to get done regardless.

We went to visit the in-laws, delicious lunch in hand.

Had some Chocolate Malted Krunch, even though my stomach was full.

I changed one diaper and had one Diet Coke.

I ate Lucky Charms for dinner.

Good Mother's Day.

I won't get too deep and personal on the topic of motherhood, because I think being a Mother is deep & personal to everyone in their own unique way.  I can tell you that every mom I know is a rock star in my book though.  I always heard that being a mom is the hardest job in the world.  ...and then it was proven, when I got my ass handed to me - repeatedly - by this little bug.

Yes, its the hardest job in the world by a long shot.
As with anything difficult, it comes with big rewards.

Happy Mother's Day to my fellow mamas.  You all inspire and amaze me in ways you probably don't realize.

More Mommy Help

I know this blog is on the verge of being a real downer.  But I need advice.  Again.  When God was passing out the motherly instinct gene, I must have given Him the finger.  And now he's getting back at me.

Everyone knows Stephen has had his rough patches as far as sleep goes.  And everyone knows when I say "patches", I mean he didn't sleep through the night at all in his first year of life.  So we did the impossible and sleep trained him using tactics loosely based on the Ferber Method.  We let him cry, but not for more than a few minutes at a time.  And it worked for the most part.  He would still wake up once or twice a week, but we were OK with that.  He was relatively easy to put back down and we actually got to a point where we were getting a decent amount of rest and feeling human again.

Well, in the last little while all that has changed.  Not sure why, but I have read that toddlers will go through different sleep patterns and sometimes have these spurts where they have a hard time sleeping again.  This spurt happens to be a huge pain in the butt.  Stevie is fighting us at bedtime, with tears, screaming, vomiting, the works!  So he hasn't been falling asleep until around 10pm.  And bedtime has become a real source of stress, which I hate.  I hate it for him and I hate it for me.  I don't want bedtime to be traumatizing for anyone!  So there's that.

But here's the kicker.

He is up at 4am.  And I mean up.  Like done sleeping.  Like eff you Mom & Dad, this day is starting NOW.  

Needless to say, that doesn't work for us.  And 6 hours of sleep for a baby?  Not working for him either.  We've tried everything to get him back to sleep!  For the first 5 days, we refused to pick him up. We would stand by the bed and comfort him, but wanted him to try and get himself back so sleep.  But when that wasn't working, we started feeling desperate.  So we tried some additional things like rocking him, patting his back, belly, butt, etc.  playing with his hair, giving him milk and/or food, playing music/white noise, and of course letting him cry.  He gets into such hysterics I honestly think the neighbors are going to report us to Social Services.  We've also tried putting him to bed earlier, putting him to bed later, cutting out his naps, letting him sleep as much as he wants.  Our schedule is completely non-existent now.

So we are kind of at a loss.  

I would love to know why this is happening so we could get to the root of the problem, but he's keeping that one a secret.  So I guess I'm looking for any tips from parents of bad sleepers on A) how to get your kid to sleep at night B) How to get them to stay asleep at night C) How you had the patience to go night after night with no sleep and still be a kind, loving person the next day or D) All of the above.

I have heard that some parents are just cursed with babies that don't like to sleep.  I'm still in denial that I'm one of those parents.  There has to be something we can do to get him to enjoy sleep as much as we do!  Help me!

Bumps in the Road

Today I got a bit of a reality check.  And I did not really like it.

We all know that Stephen is behind is his development.  We expected this, because of how many crucial developing days he was stuck in a hospital bed.  I have mostly been concerned about his lack of communication and the fact that he is not walking yet.  But to keep myself from stressing about it, I steered clear of all the books and articles that told you what milestones your baby "should be" hitting.  It just made me worry and I knew there was nothing I could do to speed things up for him.  When we would go to the park or the doctor's office, I could clearly see he wasn't doing things that other babies were doing.  But again, it was ok.  He has to do it on his own time.

Well, today I had a phone interview with a Regional Center to try and get Stevie some assistance and push his development a little further.  Because I haven't been keeping up with the milestones thing, it came as a complete shock to me to hear the things he was supposed to be doing at his age.

Does he drink from a cup?
Does he use a spoon to feed himself?
Does he take off his own shoes?
Does he take baby steps if you hold his hands?
Does he say Mama/Dada?
Does he say any words?
Does he nod yes/no?
Does he point to things he wants?
Does he explore things and try to figure them out?
Does he copy other children?
Does he bring objects to show you?
Does he interact with other children?
Does he stack toys or items?

The list went on.

And I had to answer NO to every single one of the questions.

With each no, it stung a little.  I felt a little sadder and a little more like I was failing.

I cried for a few minutes and then tried to remind myself that this was a good thing.  We are figuring it out.  Or at least trying to.

I don't know if he will get accepted into the Regional Center program but we have a home assessment coming up.  We'll know more as the month goes on.  If he is not accepted into Regional Center, we will look into some other options.  But either way, we will try and work with people who can help him.  I wish just being his mom was enough.  But sometimes, sadly, its not.

His goofy smile makes me feel a little better.

Please tell me that he will be OK while I drown my sorrows in this here Diet Coke.

#photoadayApril

I've had a few people ask where I get my Photo A Day lists from.  Her instagr.am name is @fatmumslim and this is her website.  Join us for May, won't you?  You can follow me @dxeechick.  Let me know your handle and I'll follow you too!

Day 1 - Your reflection

Day 2 - Colour {Stevie's iPad art}

Day 4 - Someone Who Makes You Happy

Day 5 - Tiny {Grew out of the robot slippers before he even got to wear them!}

Day 6 - Lunch {Oh, yes.  That happened}

Day 7 - Shadow {Out for a late night stroll}

Day 8 - Inside Your Wallet

Day 9 - A Younger You

Day 10 - Cold {There are just way too many yogurt options}

Day 11 - Where You Ate Breakfast

Day 12 - Stairs {On a good rainy day}

Day 13 - Something You Found {Thought these were a great find, but I didn't like them very much}

Day 14 - How You Feel Today

Day 15 - Sunset

Day 16 - Flower

Day 17 - Something You Don't Like {Blech}

Day 18 - Hair {Post-nap 'do}

Day 19 - Orange

Day 20 - Something You Drew

Day 21 - Bottle {Always ready to entertain}

Day 22 - The Last Thing You Bought {New sunnies with my old birthday gift cards!}

Day 23 - Vegetable {Armenian Dolma, or stuffed zucchini} 

Day 24 - Something You're Grateful For {Peace & quiet!}

Day 25 - Looking Down

Day 26 - Black & White {Feels like earthquake weather #knockonwood}

Day 27 - Somewhere You Went {First Dodger game of the season}

Day 28 - 1pm

Day 29 - Circle

Day 30 - Something That Makes You Sad {I'm very nostalgic for the old days.  Times goes too fast}