USS Carr - West Palm Beach

Quentin  has more pictures, but of course they are on his laptop, and well.... that requires more effort thanI am putting in right now...


"Daddy's Work Boat" made it home about 8:30 yesterday morning, and since Ady slept until 7:45, we barely got there in time to see the tug boats push them pierside.  Ady was VERY happy to have her daddy home!!

This was from a West Palm Beach news station, of course, Quentin is the next guy to the left that didn't make it into the picture...

This ship is a British Air Craft Carrier that was participating in an exercise.

That is West Palm Beach in the background.

Well, I did it again....

I let a month slip by without blogging.  Sigh.  I am not sure where all the hours go in the day, but one thing is for sure...I needs more of them.

There are going to be some gaps in pictures, so there are faar more on Facebook.  Luckily, the laptop decided to crap out and I had to reformat and start from scratch.  I was able to get all our pictures and documents off before hand, but they are all now on the external hard drive which is 2 more cords for Cooper to get tangled in under my feet so.... they are just gonna stay there.  I have some newer pictures that I will post here but the are all from July. 

Things are business as usual.  Cooper is sleeping better, we are down to 2 wake ups a night (most nights) and he has even gone a couple nights with only one wake up.  Now we are battleing the leaky diaper disaster, and I have to change Cooper (diaper and onsie) and the bed sheets (which I just layer 3 waterproof sheets so all I have to do is pull one off and put him back to bed) every night.  I have tried every diaper known to man and to no avail.  He is not big enough for the Huggies Overnights (they start at sz 4 and he is on the small end of sz 3) that worked wonders for Ady.  Oh well.  Sigh.  There have been nights that it is tempting to put a leftover sz 6 overnight diaper on top of his sz 3, but I havent' done it yet.  :)

Quentin is still out to sea, but I will post a seperate blog with all those pictures next.  We expect him home Sunday.  Thank GOD!!

(Okay - so I wrote this a week ago but finally got the pictures to post....sheesh!! Me and Google were NOT getting along for a few days...)

To Sleep or Not to Sleep....

so far the answer is NOT to sleep, but I am doing my homework and hopefully we will be sleeping through the night (STTN) soon.  I bought a couple books off http://www.amazon.com/ and I am about half way through both of them.  They are based on two completely different "schools" of thought and I am looking forward to making a plan and sticking to it. 

The first book, No-Cry Sleep Solution is the book that I plan to live by until Cooper is sleeping through the night.  Thus far it has stressed the importance of a bed time routine, consistent bedtimes, how much sleep he needs vs how much he is getting, and provided charts to track nap times, night wakings, and routines.  I have been tracking naps and night wakings for three nights (today is day 4) and, to be honest, it is a little depressing.  I knew Cooper was waking a lot through the night, but now that I am physically writing it down and counting them, it is far worse than I feared.  Last night was our worst night so far with 9 (Yes, NINE) wake-ups, which trumps the other nights of 3, 5, and 7 wake-ups. Sigh.  I think he is on the brink of cutting teeth which is why we are tracking and not actively making changes to our routine just yet. 

Our biggest challenge is that Cooper wakes up to nurse.  Every time.  He never goes back to sleep without nursing.  I did cheat and look ahead to see what the book says and you can read an excerpt HERE if you are  interested. 

It is hard.  I want to do everything the book says, but it is hard to keep a constant routine with Quentin being out to sea and a three year old who cannot be left alone while I put Cooper to bed.  So, we are working on a routine/bedtime that will allow me to out Cooper to bed after Adyson (she goes to bed around 8:00 every night) even though I think Cooper would benefit from an earlier bed time.  Luckily we only have a couple more "underway" times to endure and Quentin will be home until pre-deployment work-ups starting this winter. 

The second book, Sleeping Through The Night: How Infants, Toddlers, and Their Parents Can Get a Good Nights Sleep, is a "Cry It Out" type book.  I can't do it.  While I am picking up some tips from the book, I just cannot put Cooper in his room and let him scream until he is physically sick from it, which is probably what would happen.  And let's face it, no one in the house is going to be getting any sleep if Cooper is screaming for hours (especially Adyson who is only one wall away)!!!  I suppose I am not opposed to letting him fuss a bit, like when he wakes up when I lay him down, or when he stirs in the night without waking completely, but not full blown all out crying, where is gasping for air after every scream.  Can't do it.

So, that's where we are at.  I am going on a year of less than a full nights sleep and it is catching up with me.  I am tired ALL the time and it is no fun. 

Luckily, for him, he is just too darn cute :)

And he gets that from Big Sissy :)

The baby in the mirror

In our entry-way, there is a closet with mirrored doors.  There is also a step up to our entryway which I have moved Ady's potty to so that Cooper couldn't get to it... Wrong.

Mah Mah Mah!!! I DID it!!!

So, this is where you "hid" the potty??? Huh.  Found it.

I can't imagine where he learned to climb the step... 

 Monkey see.  Monkey do.

What's up, dude???

You look familiar, do I know you?

This must be some sort of secret handshake...

Smooches, anyone??

I like this other baby!!

More smooches!!

And, just for good measure, a big chocolate faced smile!! 

Happy Friday!!!

Well, another weeks has come and gone.  This week seems like it flew by.  Yesterday, Adyson had a repeat hearing screening at Portsmouth Naval Hospital.  Seems like such a simple task, but we left our house at 2PM and didn't get home until after 7PM.  Since it is a hearing screening, Cooper wasn't allowed to come.  He went to the 24/7 drop in daycare on Little Creek base - which (oh,  by the way) is 14 miles in the opposite direction of Portsmouth.  After a check in mishap and waiting 30 minutes past our scheduled appointment time they finally called us back.  Which put us leaving the clinic at 4:45.  That is bad news with 2 interstates and a tunnel between us and Cooper.  Anyway - she passed her screening with flying colors, so all is well.

Cooper is still army crawling, and he is into everything.  He loves to get into Ady's "fort" and antagonize her. 

He can get up on all four, but he isn't sure how to go anywhere so he usually just flops down on his belly and scoots away.  He has also started pulling up to his knees and even up to his feet int he last week or so. 

 I am doomed.

This week I finally learned to like the stacked washer and dryer in our rental house.

It makes a GREAT babysitter!!

Cooper - digging into the Babies'RUs bags "What did you get me, Mommy?!?!"

Ady in her "fort" of couch cushions

Aaaaaaaaaaaand, I am pleased to introduce the newest members of our family, that sleep all day and "chirp" all night......

CRABS!!  Yes, CRABS!!!

There are more empty shells in the tank than live crabs - so don't be fooled by the picture. 

We have 4 crabs - Mr. Krabs, Mystery, Baby Crab, and "Other" Baby Crab (who is hiding in the pineapple in the picture).  We just brought Baby Crab and "Other" Baby Crab home last night so I think they will get names eventually, but right now they don't have names. 

Family Pictures

Family Pictures

Brianna - 3 years

Adyson - 3 years

Marie - 1 year

Cooper - 7 months

 

An informational tid-bit from Ady...