In 2012....

Oh goodness, I am always so embarrassed when I realize that it has been months since I last updated my blog. I truly enjoy blogging because it allows me to keep a record of events, as well as my thoughts and emotions associated with them. It's kind of fun to look back on things and remember them as they were. I also like being able to put it all in one place so that my friends and family (the ones I speak to and see often, as well as the ones that are close to my heart despite us not speaking often or spending time together) can see it all in one place. So I am going to do my best to pick up where I left off last time!

So I just checked, and it has been since NOVEMBER 2011 that I last wrote anything. Time sure does fly fast! Our lives have been busy as usual, so I will try to create a summary of our lives to date.

Mike
Still working at BNSF. His schedule has been far from predictable, up until the last 6-8 weeks. He finally has enough seniority that he is able to hold a "weekend," meaning a scheduled two days off. Currently it is on Wednesdays and Thursdays that he is off work, and then works various jobs throughout the other 5 days. A few weeks ago, he was holding his scheduled days off and was able to hold night shifts. This was not so much fun for us- he was having a difficult time getting enough sleep during the day, so when we did see him he was a little zombie-ish. Also, I missed having a warm body to snuggle at night time. Recently they made some changes that opened up a bunch of daytime slots, so for the last 1.5 weeks he has been able to hold day shifts- woo hoo!! This is so much better for all of us- he gets to see Sean and I every morning and night, and he gets some normal time to himself on his days off (rather than spending it trying to get back on a normal person's sleep schedule, only to have to quickly go back to a graveyard sleep schedule again).

He's also been enjoying the PNW spring weather as much as he can. It's been just warm enough and just dry enough that he has been able to ride his motorcycle to work a few times as  week, as well as out and about on occasion. Other than that, life's been pretty simple. We are still (after 9 months of living in WA) trying to get a feel for a real social life. We were used to a pretty lax way of hanging out with people in LA, so it's still not natural for us to have friends who live more than 10 minutes away, and with work schedules, and their own plans aside from spontaneous Sunday BBQ's ; ) We have a lot of friends and family here that we are so thankful for, and we have been as social as we can be- but on occasion we remember how easy it was to call up 5 people at the last minute, and they would all be at our door within the hour without any obligations to stop partying at a specific time.

Jenn
Still working at being a nanny for Gage, who is now 4 years old. I have also taken on watching his 2 year old cousin Michelle on occasion, I probably care for her 1-2 times a week. I have been so thankful for this job opportunity since I have been able to avoid putting Sean into daycare and instead spend time with him, and keep working on potty training and everything else developmental for him. He loves Gage and Michelle so it's been a great social opportunity for all 3 of them. It's also been a nice transitional job from being a SAHM for so long. In August I will officially be starting back at Lakeside Montessori- the same preschool I worked at from 2001-2006 before we packed up and moved across the country to Louisiana. I am really looking forward to being in the classroom again, and also I think Sean is going to thrive in a Montessori preschool environment. I am definitely going to miss seeing Gage and Michelle everyday, as well as Gage's mom Danielle who has become a good friend of mine. But they are still only 15 minutes away so hopefully after August we will still get together with them often : )

I have also somehow recently gotten myself into politics- what the heck was I thinking?!?! LOL Yep, I am officially a King County 11th district Republican delegate for Ron Paul at the Washington State GOP convention that will be held in Tacoma the first weekend in June. I have NEVER been a political person before, let alone involved in the Republican party, but I guess it was my time! I have a lot to say on the issue, but I am thinking I might try and write a second blog posting where I can focus on that, instead of turing this "summary" post into a 12 page essay ; )

Sean
Oh where do I start with this amazing kiddo of mine? Sean turned two in January, and let me tell you- two has turned out to be the most wonderful and also the most frustrating age that we have experienced yet. One minute he is absolutely mesmerizing- talking and thinking and just being incredible. I look at him and think, "Geez kid when do you get so big and so awesome?" And then the next minute he is an absolute terror and I think, "When did you turn into such a nightmare?!?" But overall being a mom has been such a blessing and I honestly can't wait until we have another one : D

Sean's favorite things right now: Disney characters such as Mickey Mouse, Lightning McQueen, Buzz Lightyear and Woody. He also still loves books, trains and Sesame Street, and over the last few weeks has taken an amazing interest in puzzles. It really surprises me actually, because he is now bored with peg puzzles- he wants to do 24-30 piece puzzles that are usually labeled for ages 3 and up. And after getting some help for the first few times, he can usually start to do them all by himself. I usually only have to remind him to turn all of the pieces right side up and spread them out, and then he takes over. We try to get outside everyday, even when it is raining, and he loves to run and climb and jump and everything else a normal 2 year old boy loves to do. He still only weighs about 28 lbs. (I think he weighed about 25 lbs. this time one year ago) but he has gotten to be pretty tall and lean.

Sean now sleeps in a toddler bed every night, he successfully stopped using a pacifier about 3 months ago, and he is what I consider to be daytime potty trained. We have been working on night time potty training, but it has proved itself to be a whole other realm of potty training. I am thinking he is not ready to even think about holding it all night- he is a pretty deep sleeper and has finally (thank the Lord) gone back to sleeping through the night, so it's not likely he will wake up on his own to go potty in the middle of the night either. He really doesn't get out of his toddler bed on his own at all anyways, but I am sure that time is just around the corner. I have been putting him into thick training pants at bedtime, and trying to go in around 10:30 or 11 to take him potty while he is half asleep- that way at least he is keeping his sheets and pajamas dry, and getting a feel for peeing in the middle of the night since I know he still needs to. As he gets a little older we will go back down to light training pants, and work on him either holding it all night or getting up independently, but for now I think this is the best we can get without compromising his sleep and his confidence with daytime potty training.

That's about all I have for now. Stay tuned for my post on getting involved in politics- I am hoping to get some of my thoughts down into my blog so I can organize my own brain a little better : ) Here are a few pics!!

playing in the snow with Dada

My big two year old on his birthday

big boy bed : )

Grammie came to visit from AZ

getting ready to play outside with Michelle and Gage

I love my Momma : )

Sean and his buddy/cousin Gabriel

Easter 2012

Kids say the darndest things.....

I have been wanting to keep a record of some of the cute things Sean is starting to say now, so I can look back on them when he is talking way too much, and remember when it was so amazing to hear him put sentences together for the first time! For the record, he is 22 months now : D

The other day I was helping him brush his teeth, and was probably being a bit too forceful. He said "Stop!" and pulled his face away. This is the first time he vocalized an actual, "stop," to me, so I said, "Did you just tell me to stop??" with a giggle, and then HE replied, "Yes, I did!"

We have a few favorite books, and one of the newest is called Snuggle Puppy by Sandra Boynton. The words are, "Oooooo, snuggle puppy of mine, everything about you is especially fine. I love what you are, I love what you do. Oooooo, I love you!" (Kiss!) Sean has started trying to sing it on his own, so in the other room I will hear, "Ooooooo  Suh puppy MINE, mununumunuh (or other filler sounds) FINE. Ooooooo I wah you. Mwuah!" 

Sean and I were eating breakfast together, and he pushed his water cup right next to my coffee mug, and said, "Water. Coffee. Friends!"

Our dog Jax pulled a bowl full of Sean's snack down from the coffee table the other day and ate it all. I found it and whacked him on the nose with the bowl, and Sean saw me do it. He looked at me and said, "Momma, say Jax sorry."

When I go into Sean's room to get him in the morning, occasionally as I walk into the room, he says, "Momma?? Hooray!!!!!"

In the wee hours of the morning, sometimes Sean will wake up and talk to himself or play before falling back asleep. The other morning I heard him reciting his alphabet, combined with playing our daily hide and seek game. "A.... B.... C.... D..... E..... F........ G? Where are you G? G!!! WHERE ARE YOU???" 

We were outside going for a walk. All of a sudden, Sean looks at me and says, "Su......per Grover!" So I say, "Super Grover, huh?" And then he proceeds to tell me a story, that went something like, "Super Grover and Elmo fly, and Cookie and Elmo and Super Grover are friends." Then we went inside and he got his stuffed Ernie, Elmo, and Cookie Monster and made them all fall down and go "ouch" and said sorry. After they fell down again, he put his hands to his cheeks and said, "Oh no, what are we gonna do?" and as he turned them all over he said "fix it."

I am sure I will be hearing more of these silly stories and sentences coming from him again soon. But it's easy to be amazed by my child daily, and forget to take record so I can look back on these memories later. 

Fall/Winter 2011

Can I just start this post by saying that I really do love the weather here in the Pacific Northwest? I am listening to the rain outside right now, and I can feel that it's somewhere in the low 50's outside, even though I am cozy and warm indoors. And it makes my heart smile. My husband thinks I am crazy, and I know I will be sick of it come March. But for now I am loving it. It's such a nice change of pace from humid, hot, and swampy in South Louisiana. This is crisp, clean, and homey. Yum : D

So, shortly after I blogged last time, I found a job- hooray! It's a pretty sweet deal for me. I am watching a 3.5 year old at his house, while his mom works from home. I get to bring Sean with me (bonus!) and the latest I get off work is 2:30pm. Some days I have to be there as early as 6am, but most days I am there around 8 or so, and some days (when his dad is working later in the day or not at all) then I randomly won't have to come in to work at all. I get weekends off, as well as the major holidays. She is paying me weekly, the same rate regardless of what hours I work, so I get some reliability out of that as well. Overall I think it's exactly what I needed at this point- I was reluctant to get a "real" job and have to think about putting Sean into daycare and commuting and all that junk. This is about 15 minutes from our apartment (25 in traffic) and it's been rare that I have to put in the regular 40 hours a week. Not to mention, I get to play with a 20 month old and a 3 year old all day- fun!! The little boy's name is Gage, and Sean is fascinated by him. They play pretty well together, although Sean is still doing what experts call "parallel play" for the most part. Which is great- he's always been fairly independent, so he plays well that way, and I get to devote some one on one with Gage, since he likes some games that Sean isn't quite ready for yet, like Memory and pretend. But it's nice to be able to tell Gage that Sean is watching and wants to be like him, so he needs to show him the right things. He is a good kid, I lucked out with watching him. In my preschool teaching experience, he is one of the easier ones LOL!

The other benefit of taking a job like this is that I have been able to keep up with potty training! Sean is doing pretty well- it's not unrealistic to go an entire day without accidents at all, as long as I take him to the potty every hour-ish. He rarely tells me he needs to go pee on his own though, but I figure that will come with time. He will tell me about 1/2 of the time when he needs to poop. The last 2 days though, he hasn't told me he needed to go at all, but since he usually goes right before or right after naptime, I have been encouraging him to use the toilet. He has been resisting, and then going in his diaper right before he goes to sleep or right after he wakes up. If he does happen to go before he falls asleep, he won't sleep until I change him, which is a good thing. But it's been several weeks since he has resisted anything having to do with the potty, so this bums me out a little. Oh well, one day at a time, right? At least I am usually only going through 2 diapers a day now- naptime and bedtime. And an occasional pair of wet underwear here and there.

Right now the biggest thing we have going on is deciding what we are going to do with our house in Louisiana. Our renters have been far from reliable (aside from Dan, of course, who was always an awesome roommate, and tenant after we left!) so I am starting to freak out several times a month, wondering if we can afford to pay the mortgage or not. Property management is expensive, but it is something we need to look into again. I am not emotionally ready to sell the house yet- we didn't get a chance to put much work into it, and I think a part of me still thinks I can go back for a visit/extended stay and live there for a while. Ha! I think I am a bit delusional! But honestly, the housing market is crap right now, and we have owned it for less than 3 years, and have not put any money into it (aside from the A/C), so it wouldn't be the best idea to sell unless we absolutely cannot get renters in there because there is a chance we would not break even, let alone make anything. Right now we have 2 new renters, our supposed to be 3rd one bailed on us at the last minute. There were 2 previous to this that had to get out of their leases due to financial issues. We need at least 3 tenants (but have room for a total of 4) in order to pay the mortgage on rent money alone. Not to mention the pest control and landscaping. *Sigh* I hate money. I wish we could have stuck with the dive industry and Louisiana for another 2-3 years, long enough to get some equity built up and a chance for me to feel like we gave being homeowners a true chance. But, it is what it is. My current motto is "This too, shall pass" and I need to keep reminding myself. Things will happen, whether we want them to or not. Worrying doesn't do anything productive for the situation.

Well, I figured I needed to write out a wishlist- We have all of our birthdays coming up in the winter (Mine is November, Sean's is January, and Mike's is February) plus Christmas coming up. For our own sake I made a list, but figured it would be a good idea to post it on our blog as well, since our family is always asking what we want for Christmas anyways. Feel free to ignore it, but here it is LOL


Mike
Handgun
12 gauge ammo
My two front teeth (it's all I want for christmas)
A gift card (if they do it) to these guys   www.bigjoesbikerrings.com
Dress shoes
Thick blue jeans (33-32 straight cut)
Books or book store gift card

Jenn
Raincoat/fleece coat combo (like my old Columbia jacket)
New running shoes (10.5ish?)
Value Village gift card (do they even make those?)
Eclipse DVD
Muffin top pan
Mini muffin pan

Sean
Winter Coat (2T)
Trains/Tracks set (Brio, or Thomas?)
Dr. Suess books
Super Why! Doll
Word World DVD
Slippers

I'm looking forward to this weekend- both of my parents are coming to visit, and we are talking about going to Anthony's Homeport for dinner on Saturday- yum!! It's my absolute favorite restaurant, yipee!!

Well, that's all for now. I'm signing off.

And now for the pictures!!!!!

This last week- a recap

This week has been an exhausting one! Between potty training, and looking for a job, and Mike officially finishing his BNSF training, we were ready for the weekend. Luckily my mom came to visit, so we also got a bit of a break from the little one as well. 

Potty training is still going good, but there was about 2-3 days in there where I couldn't get my head on straight, and I kept blaming myself for all of Sean's accidents. Then I found myself feeling angry, and I think all of the emotions rubbed off onto him and he started to not go on the potty at all. Of course that spiraled into me thinking I was doing everything wrong, failing as a mother, and so on and so forth. I am an incredibly rational person, can't you tell? 

Of course after a couple of chats with my very best girlfriends and some ego boosts from the hubby, I eventually got my priorities back in order and was able to relax a bit. I had to remind myself that even though I didn't expect to see my child get potty trained in 3 days, I probably wasn't going to see true progress after 3 days either. This is an ongoing thing, and the reason for starting this young isn't necessarily so you can throw all the diapers out at 18 months- it's so that when he truly is ready, the potty concept isn't a foreign one to him. 

That being said, because of my anxiety levels this last week, I told myself we weren't failing if I had to put a diaper on him during the day. And that when he told me "no" when it was time to go, that it wasn't the end of potty training as we know it. He is 1 1/2 years old....... let me repeat that. HE IS 1 1/2 YEARS OLD. His mood changes at the drop of a hat. Sometimes he will be happy and compliant, and other times he will be a total pill who wants to defy everything I say no matter what it is. Welcome to parenthood, right? Oh well, I guess I will learn. 

For now, he is still mostly naked during the day at home, and we can even manage to get out of the house 90% of the time in underwear with no accidents. I am working on taking him to the potty every 45 minutes to an hour, and seeing if he will pee when I tell him to. I would say he does a little more than half of the time. I figure once he can "pee on command" then he might be ready to start telling me when he actually has to go. That is the area he doesn't understand quite yet. I still think we are progressing nicely- he pees on the potty 2-4 times a day, and maybe has about the same number of accidents. 

Pooping is a whole other issue- he has been borderline constipated lately, so I have been ignoring the poop thing altogether. He is still pooping daily, so I am not really concerned. But I know that when people have problems with potty training, it usually stems from or leads to constipation. He pooped in the potty the first 2-3 days of potty training, but now even though he will usually pee in it without any problems, he is hesitant to poop on it. So I am letting him poop however it comes out (bare butt, diaper, or underpants, I don't really care!) until he relaxes about the whole concept a little, then we will start trying to get it into the potty. 

OK, OK!! Enough talk about poop and pee and all of that good stuff (isn't parenting a blast??) Mike is officially a conductor with BNSF now, and worked his first solo shift last night. He was actually working as a foreman (they were trained in several areas other than conducting), and he was working at one of the yards in South Seattle. A conductor is technically one that travels with the train, but he is trying to avoid those jobs for now if he can help it. I am so proud of him, and he really seems to be enjoying the job as well. The toughest part so far is the unpredictability for his schedule for the next year, or possibly several years. Eventually, though, he will be able to be on a set schedule for sure, and at that point we will be able to relax a little more, plan things, etc. 

I have still been looking for a job, but I have been back and forth with how hard I try. On one hand, money is tight, so I should be working. On the other hand, come next month Mike should be bringing in a lot more money than he was on student pay, so we really don't know how that will all pan out quite yet. So that leaves me to want a job sooner than later for two reasons: to either help make ends meet, or to make extra money so we can finally be ahead. It also reminds me that we might be ok if I don't get a job quite yet, and stay home with Sean for just a bit longer. Come this time next year, Sean will be preschool age, so I will have a lot more options for the schools I could potentially work at. In the meantime, when I visit a potential employer, I am also viewing them as a potential childcare/school for my son. This makes job searching much more stressful as a mom. *Sigh* I know it will work itself out eventually. But realistically it will not work itself out on its own- I WILL have to make some effort on my part. 

This weekend was a blast!! We went to Tiff and Dan's house in Shelton on Saturday. It was a bit of a drive, but it is so pretty out there, and it has been almost a year since we saw them, so it was totally worth it!! We have been talking about places to live that have acreage, and Shelton and its surrounding areas are less expensive, so it's possible we might try to make our way out there after Mike has enough seniority to move to another yard further south of Seattle. The baby shower was lots of fun, and my sweet friend Tiff was just glowing with her new mommy vibes : ) 

On Saturday night we went to our friend Brittany's house. She is leaving for China on Wednesday, and as of yet she has no plans to come back. So it was a farewell party for her. It was nice to get out for a few hours without a toddler on my hip! It made me realize that I didn't make anywhere near enough of an effort to hang out with Brittany since I got back to WA, and now I am really going to miss her. At the same time, I am very excited for her. I have always admired her ability to see what she wants and then grab it. She has accomplished so much in life, and I think that is just incredible. I really hope she gets everything she dreams of from her move to China. 

Anyways, my mom just left to head back to OR. I am enjoying a quiet house- Daddy is sleeping, Baby is napping. After looking through all of my friends albums on FB of brand new babies, and families full of older children too, I am sitting here dreaming of baby #2. No official plans yet, but I have a feeling that in about a year or two this will be something in the works ; )

As usual, I will leave you with a few pics of the best thing I ever made : )

 

Potty Training!!

OK, in parenting there are some things that are just plain exhausting. Apparently potty training is one of them!! Although I must say that my 19.5 month old boy is impressing me a bit. I have always heard that it is more difficult to potty train boys, and it's more time consuming (but not necessarily difficult) to potty train any child before the age of two. Well I laugh in the face of all you people who say these things, and decide we will do it all anyways, MUAHAHAHA. 

It's not really that funny though. It's actually quite tiring and tedious. But we are seeing some results, so methinks we should keep going with it. 

Even though technically it would be much easier to just stick him in diapers. It's not really about the mess- he hasn't been drinking as much fluid lately, and he has also slowed down on his eating. So there really hasn't been that much bodily fluids coming out of him, into the potty or otherwise, compared to back in the "old" days when he ate me out of house and home and consumed 25+ ounces of milk plus 5-10 ounces water each day. It is, however, about letting him run around naked ALL DAY and sitting on the edge of my seat, waiting for our "learning opportunity" to arise when he looks like he will pee or poop and he's not already sitting on the potty. That is probably the most exhausting part about potty training- I am constantly waiting for him to pee or poop so I can teach him to put it into the potty, instead of on the floor on in his pants. 

See, what I have realized about babies in general is that they spend approximately 23 out of the 24 hours in each day in their diaper. And a good diaper that does its job will not let the baby feel hardly anything when it comes to peeing and pooping. So when you start to potty train, the key is to let them have accidents to begin with- this is their first experience with seeing/feeling it come out of their body and not get absorbed into the diaper. Let them experience cause and effect, ya know? They have been getting these sensations all along, but not seeing the results of the sensations. Naked time gives them the results. And at about this age is when they start to show some awareness of what their body is doing, so I think that is why potty training between 18-24 months used to be so popular (before the convenience of disposable diapers that is), because they are finally starting to put two and two together. 

But based on all of this running around and anticipating I've been doing, I don't blame parents for wanting to wait until their kids are older to start potty training- there is a lot of work involved, especially when the communication is still fairly limited. At least a 3 year old can talk better than a 1 year old, right? Although, a 3 year old *can* be more stubborn than a 1 year old. I think that was my fear and part of why I decided to try at this age. 

I also decided to try because he was showing some signs of being ready- he would often tell me before (but usually after) pooping in his diaper, and he despised being in it for more than a few minutes; he showed a real interest in his little potty that we bought him, and always wants to come in with mommy and daddy to the bathroom when we go, and uses his signs to acknowledge that he understands what we're doing; also he would watch me put his poop into the toiled from his cloth diapers each day; he understands "wet" and "dry," and is starting to prefer dry; and he has started to be able to go for longer stretches of time before having to pee. 

He does not stay dry at nighttime yet, but I know that some kids have a hard time with this well into elementary school so I don't think that is a good judge for whether or not they are ready to daytime potty train. And he is still learning to dress and undress himself, but again this is something that I think he will learn as he gets further into potty training, and will have a chance to practice more with it, so I don't think we needed to wait until he had that skill mastered to start. 

Anyways, this is probably one of the tougher parenting tasks to date for me. One, because of everything I explained before and how exhausting it can be. And two, because there are so many different ways that people choose to potty train their kids- so asking for advice is almost worse than just figuring it out as you go. Everything I hear that one friend did for their kid is something another friend says didn't work for them or they tell you it's not the right or realistic way to approach it. Even my own pediatrician didn't really hear me say that I wanted to potty train soon, and all I heard him say back to me was that he may not get it until he is 3 or so. 

I feel like a lot of people have been a little bit less than encouraging through all of this, and they only ones who have been encouraging are the ones who started potty training with their kids around the same age. They may not have been fully trained until 2 or 2.5, but at least they saw their child's potential and tried to create an environment that would fit those needs. That is all I wanted to do- I am willing to exhaust myself and put up with a few messes if he is showing me that this is something he may be ready for. And I am not going to throw in the towel over a few hiccups along the way. I felt like I was holding him back if I put him back in diapers, and I felt like I would be giving up on him rather than helping him with success. Realistically, I am not busy with a second or third child, and I am not working (outside of being a stay at home mom) or going to school, or busy with much else other than chasing my active toddler around, so this was something I considered to be doable.

We are on day 4.5 of potty training- we have seen some really successful days, and days like yesterday where there was little to no true success at all. But I will try to remember to let you all know how it goes from here, and fingers crossed that we continue to see progress along the way!!

My thoughts: On growing up, and pushing one out of the nest

Sean was awake at about 6 AM this morning when Mike left for work. I have a (somewhat flexible) boundary that I don't get him out of bed before it's light outside, or before 7 am, depending on which comes first. Even though it was almost light outside, I waited until about 7 to go into his room and he had actually fallen back asleep. So here I am, dinking around on the computer.

I know I say it in almost every post, but I want to be better about blogging. I enjoy sharing my thoughts and lifetime events with my web friends.

I have been living in Washington for about a month now (26 days actually) and I am starting to finally settle down a bit. I have trying (not too hard) to find a job, but I think today I will try a little harder. I want to get back into the Dave Ramsey way of saving/spending again, and we kind of fell into some bad habits again with living so far away from each other, having to spend on moving expenses, etc. Now that we are settled and money will be more predictable, it's time to retrain ourselves to make our money work for us again! And in order to really do that, it's important that I find a job. Sean is older now so I don't feel as bad about working and having him in preschool. Plus, I am really trying to get a job at a preschool, so technically he will be going to work with me! It's better this way- I have experience in working with preschoolers, and most schools offer discounted tuition if you are employed there as well. So overall I think this is where we will all be happiest.

I have been thinking about a lot of things lately- way too many things to be precise! I tend to get stressed out and anxious easily, and then I have a hard time reigning my focus back in, so I can actually accomplish things. I think this is another reason why I enjoy blogging- it helps me to organize my thoughts. It's difficult to think about money/finances, getting a job, raising a toddler, and organizing life things all at once. I don't know how some people do it!!

But what I wanted to vent about today mostly is all of the changes we will be going through with Sean over the next few months. I think I am the type of parent who strongly believes in not holding my child back from his fullest potential. And I guess most parents would say that, but what I mean is, I am not afraid to push him out of the nest when I know he is ready, figuratively speaking. I find that nowadays, parenting in the norm is about letting your child show you he is ready before training to do things, like sleep in their own bed or on their own, or get rid of a paci, or potty train. I have been a bit of the opposite in that area, from what I see a lot of parents do.

When Sean was 4 months old, I knew he would sleep better if I could put him down in his crib without having to rock him for 20-40 minutes each time (I use the term "rock" loosely, because I was actually having to practically dance around the room in order to get the kind of movement he needed to fall asleep). So we did Ferber's method of "Cry it out," sometimes dubbed CIO. It worked pretty well for us. It was some of the most difficult nights I ever experienced. But it only lasted a few days for us, and really after day one he actually fell asleep at a few naps and at all of his bedtimes with no crying at all- he would just turn his head and falls asleep. I have absolutely no regrets about this decision- I never once "abandoned" him, as some like to say. I would hold him and hug him and tell him I loved him, and that it was time for "nigh-night" before I would set him down in his crib. I only put him to bed when I knew he was sleepy, I didn't do it at a specific time of day in order to force him into a "schedule." And after he was down, I would set a goal for myself to wait "x" number of minutes before returning into his room to reassure him that I was there. I knew at all times that he was full, dry, tired, and not in pain. I always reminded myself that once he was in the crib, I was committed at that point, so we always made sure to feed, change, give medicine if necessary, etc before bedtime/naptime began. And during my check-ins, they were always brief but loving- a soft rub on the back or belly, quiet shushing and a quick "It's time for nigh-night. I love you." before leaving the room. We used a paci, and each time if it was out of reach I would give it back.

Now that he is 1 and a half years old and has been a great sleeper (for the most part) ever since, I am thinking about our next "bad habit" to break- his beloved paci. He sleeps with one in his mouth and one in his hand. He only gets it at bedtime, and they go straight into the crib whenever he wakes up from bedtime or naptime. I am really wanting it to be gone before he is two, but part of me wonders if I should even wait that long. It only gets more difficult as they get older, right? He passed the 18 month mark, and technically that is when our doctor told us we needed to start weaning him off of it. I have read several things online that say to simply snip the tip of his paci off, so when he goes to suck on it, it serves no gratification. This way it's not as alarming as taking it away cold turkey, and usually it sounds like the child will eventually stop using it and forget it exists. I am hesitant to believe it's that simple, but I do like the idea of actually weaning, rather than just taking it away one day. Our pediatrician always compared it to smoking- he said it was their addiction, that made them feel good. Literally like a smoker and his cigarettes. So maybe it is better to find a way to wean him, and to do it soon.

The next two things on my list go hand in hand, and I think they are the true marker of when a child graduates into toddlerhood (or as we tell them, being a "big boy"). These things are potty training and moving up to a toddler bed. At first, I was only thinking of potty training- Sean has shown some signs of being ready, so I wanted to roll with that and see where it takes us. No more diapers? Yes please!! But then I got to thinking- I think it is downright mean and confusing to expect a child to cooperate with potty training during the day, and yet keep him locked up in his crib for 12-14 hours between bedtime and naptime. How is this encouraging independence in using the toilet? From my experience working at a preschool, pull-ups are just a glorified diaper that doesn't have velcro. It is NOT a step from diapers to underwear. When the child can actually feel what is happening when they go to the bathroom, that is their motivation to go in the toilet, rather than in their pants. Pull-ups take this away from them. Plus, when you put your child in a pull-up, you are basically giving them permission to "have an accident" now. I think this is much too confusing and sends your child mixed signals. If anything other than underwear is to be used, I think it should be some lightly padded training unerwear. Something to take some of the mess away, but not inhibit the feeling of wetness. I also have been using cloth diapers on Sean since he was about 4 months old, so I am probably a bit biased, as I would hate to start putting him in paper/plastic disposables again, when he has grown accustomed to having cloth on his behind : ) I hate to take too big of a stand on this issue, because this is my first child and I have yet to actually potty train him, so I am not one to tell everyone how it is or how it should be done. But I am speaking from my basic knowledge of child development and opinion on how to encourage and foster independence in them in each sensitive period of their life.

So there you have it. A little bit of what I have been thinking about the past week. I haven't really drawn any new conclusions from typing this into my blog. But I feel a little better getting some thoughts out of my head and more organized than they were before.

Woah, where have I been???

Ok, it's been since April 2011 since I posted last, and I guess you could say A LOT has gone on in our lives since then!!

Let's start with Mike getting an employment offer from BNSF (Burlington Northern Santa Fe) for a conductor trainee position in Seattle. Yep, pretty much turned our world upside down for the last 4 months!! Mike left Lafayette on May 9th and started work on May 16th. Sean and I stayed in Louisiana until we knew it was for sure. The idea of moving back to Washington was a bit scary. But honestly we had nowhere to go at that point but up- Mike had been laid off and living off of unemployment since January, and had exhausted all of his resources for finding a job in Louisiana (other than going back to diving, but he had pretty much lost interest in leaving his family to go offshore a long time ago). So we kind of knew that when he did find a job, it would probably mean uprooting our lives and moving away.

So I enrolled Sean in preschool about a week after Mike had left. We had already been looking for a while, since we knew Mike would get a job at some point. So luckily I already knew which one we liked best and knew they had an open spot. Being a "single" working mom is some tough business though!! Dropping Sean off before I went into work, then picking him up on my way home, to have a messy house and a dog to come home to, and having to quickly throw something together for dinner. Not to mention knowing I would eventually be packing our 3 bedroom house up by myself.... Luckily I have the coolest friends ever in Louisiana and they helped me a lot with packing, organizing, selling furniture, and just plain keeping my sanity!!

I quit my job at AT&T in June. I couldn't handle the stress anymore, and my new schedule conflicted with Sean's so much that I was going to have to drop him at daycare and also have my friend pick him up, and I was also having to work every Saturday, so I wasn't really going to see him much and didn't like that idea at all. Especially with his Daddy already being gone, and we still didn't know how much longer before we would be reunited. I was majorly stressed, but looking back now I am glad I made that decision. I ended up getting extremely sick right after my last day, and I honestly think it was all of the stress that made my body susceptible to it.

So thanks to my Lafayette ladies, I was able to pack up the house into a 15 foot moving van, attach a tow dolly onto the back of it, and bring it and my car almost 3,000 miles to WA by myself (well, not technically by myself- our dog Jax was a great travel companion!) Before "moving day" I flew Sean to my parents' house on the Oregon coast so that he wasn't forced to do the drive with me as well. It took me about 5 days to get from Louisiana back to the coast again- I left Monday July 25th around 3pm, and got to Portland, OR on Friday July 29th around 5pm.

Now we are finally settled into our cozy 3 bedroom apartment in Renton, WA. Mike is really enjoying his job with the railroad. His schedule has been a little crazy and unpredictable, but it's nothing worse than what he dealt with when he was diving. Actually it is much better, because he isn't going to spend weeks away from us anymore, the longest he has been gone so far is two days. And after he completes his training program in October, he won't really have to travel at all if he doesn't want to.

Sean has been a real trooper through it all. The last 3 months for him have consisted of:

1.) Going to a new preschool for about 6 weeks and then staying home with Mommy again

2.) Getting super sick and dealing with a nasty summer "cold" from May to July (which turns out it must have been allergies because it cleared up as soon as we got to the west coast)

3.) Watching his entire house get packed up over a 10 week period

4.) Flying to Oregon and staying with Mommy at Nana and Grampa's

5.) Driving to Washington for the weekend to see Daddy (after 10 weeks of not seeing him)

6.) Driving back to the Oregon coast

7.) Being away from Mommy for a whole week!! Yikes!! At Nana and Grampa's house while she drove the moving van

8.) Driving back to Washington with Nana to move into his new apartment home, finally under the same roof as Mommy, Daddy, and Jax all at the same time

It was officially 12 weeks since we had lived with Mike on the day we moved into our apartment. But hopefully it is the last time we will have to have an extended time away from each other again!

I feel like it all went by so slowly while it was happening. But now that I am living in Washington, I feel like it happened so fast!! I miss my Louisiana friends so much. And it is so strange getting used to living here again. This is the place where I grew up- not the place where I became a Mom. The idea of raising my child here after being away for so long is still sinking in. I associate this place with my childhood, not my son's!! But it is slowly starting to feel normal again. I have seen a handful of my old "besties," and still have a few more calls to make as well. I am really lookin forward to rekindling a lot of my old friendships, as well as meeting other new mommies to be friends with.

The other thing I wanted to update on very quickly is our son- he is amazing!! I can't believe how much he has changed over the last 6 months. It feels like yesterday that he started walking, right around his first birthday. Now he is 18 months old, and the kid RUNS everywhere he goes. He talks all the time, and is so interested in learning EVERYTHING there is to know! He is completely and utterly OBSESSED with letters. I think it is because his favorite TV shows were always 'Super Why' and "Word World,' and they both are all about letters, reading, etc. He has some foam letters, and some magnetic letters for the fridge, and some blocks that have letters on them too. He surprisingly knows almost all of the names of the letters, and a lot of their phonetic sounds too!! He can sort of spell his own name (thanks to putting it in big letters on his wall) and is always finding letters everywhere we go and making sure to point them all to us. Our new favorite routine is when we go for walks around the apartment complex- he points to all of the letters on each building and tells me what they are. He even plays "hide and seek" with some of them. Like, we will pass the 'R' building and he'll shout "R!!" and then he'll say "S?? S?? Ooooo??" ('Ooooo' is his way of saying 'where are you?') When we get to the 'S' building he'll get excited, like he finally found it after searching for so long!! He has been lots of fun lately : )

He has also been very needy, I believe as a result of all the changes he has gone through. I am trying to take it all one day at a time, but it's kind of a tricky situation. He was very independent before, never really needy for me or whiny for attention. Even when he went to daycare, he wasn't frantic to have me come back for him. But now sometimes when I even leave the room he will start to throw a tantrum. Other times, though, he doesn't seem to care. I am still trying to figure out the best way to respond to his behavior, but I am sure it will start to get better once he realizes that we will be staying here for a while.

Anyways, it's getting late now and I think if I write much more this blog post will no longer be fun to read. So I will leave you with this, and try to keep updating when I can. I will also try to post some pictures later. I still need to get back to my 30 day blog challenge, so hopefully I will post more on that soon!!