Why I have not written much lately....

Usually to write, there is the typical layout of a beginning, a middle and an end. You present an idea, then present a conflicting viewpoint or a problem, and then you tie it all up neatly in the end.

Well I have beginnings, I have middles, but lately nothing is wrapping up into a nice and tidy little end.

There is a lot going on, but none of it has much of a conclusion.

Dan is working his new work schedule and we are still adjusting to it a little bit. Having him here in the mornings means I am going out less because Liam and I are amused by having him here. But this means it is harder to find my motivation to go to the gym. So I need to work on that...

Liam is saying a few new words, and the same old ones, but there has been little else that is new and amazing. We just do the same things day after day. Winter is hard on toddlers, we can't go out much. No walks, no park, no playing in the yard. Even on the days it doesn't rain it is too soggy and yucky for Liam to be outside. Liam also is not quite ready to start any real learning projects. He still will not do the same thing consistently for even 5 minutes except on rare occasions and I can not keep wracking my brain for new projects that are Liam friendly right now. So we color and we try to work on learning shapes and colors. Right now, every color is Yellow...

Lately I have lost interest in many craft projects, kind of like a break from Making after all the making I did for Christmas. Its like the creative part of my brain shut down for a while....

And above all, Liam is hitting a new stage of toddlerhood where there is much whining and crying when things do not go his way and there is no longer any distracting him with something else. He wants what he wants and nothing else will do...

So, there is nothing that really has an end right now and when I write about things, I want to be able to find the conclusion. Maybe the conclusion is that right now I have no conclusion. 

Waking up.... a lot

Ok all you moms... Liam is doing this thing where he wakes up at 3am, 4am, 6am (yes all three) and is so hungry that he is screaming. So since I don't want to wake him up all the way and have him stay up for hours, I give him a bottle of milk.

He has dinner at 5:30ish and gets to bed at 6:30ish. He picks that time to sleep, he is rubbing his eyes, snoozing on our laps, giving clear and unmistakeable tired signs. Even on the times he does stay up later, it does not stop the waking up hungry.

He eats an ok sized dinner. I offer him a good portion of grains, veggies, proteins, and starches. I try to pick things that will stick with him longer; pastas, dense breads, etc. Some nights he eats a lot, other nights not so much but there is no way I can force food into him and I am not going to try. It results in screaming if you even SHOW him a fork when he says he is done.

He has a bottle before bed still, the past two nights I put Pedisure in it instead of milk thinking that stuff might keep him fuller for longer but it does not seem to be working that way.

This is a recent thing, he was sleeping through the night in December or only waking up once around midnight for a bottle.

I am tired. I am so very very tired. I want my sleep. I don't want to be woken up at 3am and 4am and 5 or 6am.

I check the temperature in his room, its fine... not to hot, not too cold. I put a toy in his crib so that if its just that he wakes up bored he has something to play with, but that does no good.

He is not wet or dirty in the diaper department, usually I change him when he first wakes me up at night, just in case, even if he is dry still.

He does not seem to be teething, sick or injured.

I really am confused. For now I have this chalked  up to being a growing and developing phase and hoping it will pass rapidly.

But I am open to ANY ideas or suggestions.... I am so very very sleepy and would love to be able to only get up once a night again.

Stuck Inside!

We got a little bit of snow this past week. One night where it snowed and one day where we got to watch the rain melt it all away.

I did bundle Liam up and we got to explore the snowy back yard with the puppy.

Now it is just raining and raining and raining and we are running out of things to do inside the house! I am thinking it may be time to try some more advanced things with Liam, start on some of the toddler learning concepts.

Maybe get some colors and shapes and work those into every day things. We were given a cute felt board for Christmas from my cousins and Liam liked the idea. The girls cut out a house and a tree and a face but that might be a bit advanced for Liam right now. So I will go get some more felt and make circles and squares and triangles and stars in different colors. We can work on grouping them by shape and color.

Liam is doing well with his shape sorting toys, but does not like putting the shapes all the way into the holes because then he can not get them back out right away. I think the felt shapes will help with this as they will not "go away" when they are put where they go.

If you guys have any other ideas of things I can do with him indoors, let me know!

My Big Cheesy Thank You!

So, I hope you all like this. Its simple, a little cheesy, and made with very low video editing skills...

But it comes from the heart.

I wish I could have had everyone we love here with us for this past Christmas, but this will have to do.

I know it isn't Christmas anymore, that is done for another year... but it took me a while to figure out how to put this together. And we didn't finish opening presents until just the other day. So forgive me for making you all listen to one more Christmas song!

Thank you ALL!

This is my big Xmas thank you to everyone! I am sorry it is a bit late... But you all know how it goes. Nothing slows down when you have a toddler!

So thank you all for the gifts for Liam and for Dan and I!

I have some video of Liam opening his gifts that I am going to put together when I get the time, that will be posted here as well.

Thanks again and Have a great New Year!