Just when you get ONE figured out...

The good news is that Keziah's sleeping seems to be improving over the last few nights. Last night she was only up once to eat! But unfortunately it was my two-year-old that had me up all night! You just can't win :)

I'm not exactly sure what's up with him but lately he's been resisting going to bed in the first place which has never been a big issue for him. Last night he went to bed OK, but it was about 1:30 a.m. when the shenanigans started. Micah's always been bad for night-waking. As a baby I worried that he was hungry and I usually just fed him (during our 3-month ministry trip when he was around 6 months, I felt so bad for the inconsistency and lack of schedule that I was back to nursing him every 3 hours at night). Later I wondered if maybe he was teething or sick or scared...

But now I'm convinced he's waking up for two basic reasons: 1) habit & 2) manipulation. He's a toddler and he knows how to use that piercing cry to make mom and dad come running. I know it's not a "real" cry because anytime we've succumbed and climbed into bed with him or brought him into our bed, he's happy as a lark - ready to play in the middle of the night. So, this has got to come to an end. I decided to implement the "going to bed" routine from Super Nanny for Micah's night-wakings. She says you shouldn't talk to them or even make eye contact - basically don't engage with them at all. And keep putting them straight back in bed even if it means over and over again. And last night was over and over again. At one point Erik was ready to give up and climb into bed with him but by that point I was wide awake and wanting to prove my point so I didn't let him give in. (Wow, I just said 'point' 3 times in that sentence!) Anyway, I got in and out of bed more times than I cared to count and then finally all was quiet at about 3 a.m. And then I was so wide awake that it took me awhile to fall back asleep.

We faced a similar scenario at nap time today but it only took me 3 times of putting Micah back in bed before he stayed. I'm hoping that we can stop this bad habit once and for all. I've been scheming a way to get rid of Micah's soothers and had planned it for next weekend but all these poor nights have made me wonder what I'm getting myself into. But then my mom told me on the phone today that it might be as good a time as any since he's not sleeping well anyway... I'll let you know what we decide :)

I couldn't post without including a couple of pictures from the last few days.

Keziah was helping her Daddy with his blue prints last night after supper...

Here is Micah stealing a kiss :) He seems to be fully adjusted to Keziah's presence in the house and is even starting to show interest in playing with her. It has taken him awhile to warm up though and from talking to other moms of 2 or more it seems to be more of a 'girl thing' to be maternal and affectionate with a younger sibling. I'm eagerly awaiting the day when they will be able to entertain one another...

Randomness

We had a pretty relaxing weekend and didn't do too much which was nice :) The weather wasn't really conducive to being out and about anyway. The weather network called for (and I quote) copious amounts of rain this weekend in the lower mainland and unfortunately they were right.

Another reason we didn't do much is that we were both pretty tired. Neither of our children have been sleeping great lately. On Thursday night I felt like I was getting up all night for either one or the other - feeding Keziah 2 or 3 times or just giving her a soother, settling Micah down when he woke up crying... It's frustrating that I'm always the one who has to get up with the kids. Erik just doesn't hear them, so by the time I wake him up (Erik? Erik!... ERIK! ) I could've easily gotten up, settled them down and been back in bed. It's just not worth it. But, to his credit, he does let me sleep in most mornings when Micah's up at 6 am :)

Yesterday at church, my friend Kelly brought me Taeya's bumbo seat for Keziah to try out. It enables her to sit up fully supported and it's one of the cutest things I've ever seen! She seems to really like it too:



Of course Micah had to try it out too... :)

I have to share two funny Daddy moments from the last few days. The other day Erik was playing with Micah and I was trying to settle Keziah down since she was crying. I asked Erik to grab me a soother from her room. He was telling me a story at the same time and when he came out of the room with her little soother he shoved it in Micah's mouth and even wiggled it around a bit to try to get him to "latch on". Micah stood there with a stunned look on his face and I started laughing as Erik realized he was trying to pacify the wrong child.

This experience reminded Erik to tell me about something that had happened a couple of mornings before when he was up with the kids and I was still sleeping. He was feeding Micah a peanut butter and jam toast while trying to get ready for work. At one point Keziah started crying as Micah was asking for "more please Daddy!" Without thinking he shoved the piece of toast into Keziah's open mouth! He quickly tried to wipe the stickiness out of her mouth but he said she seemed to like it :) So much for waiting until after a year to introduce peanut butter...

I headed on a walk with the kids this morning and we stopped for awhile at the park so Micah could play. I was reminded of my post a couple of months ago when they both started crying at the park and I panicked and ended up heading home. Funny that it doesn't scare me like it used to - I think I've just gained confidence with how to handle both of them together when we're out.

"Hi Mom!"

"Mmmm, this shirt tastes good..."

I'm looking forward to a relatively quiet week at home. I love making lists on Sunday night of all the things I want to accomplish in the coming week but today is more than half over and I can't cross anything off yet! I'd better get off the computer and see what I can get done :)

Check this out!

Just a quick post today. I received a comment from a fellow blogger a few days ago asking if she could use a picture of Micah on a Mom/Parenting website that she was creating. I finally got a chance to check it out and there he was right at the top! To see it for yourself, click here.

A New Season

Erik and I both feel like breathing a sigh of relief at the end of this week. Life has been really busy for us over the past 2 months. It was mostly due to our involvements with TREK leadership which sometimes took up 3 evenings a week. As of this week, the TREK-ers have departed on their various assignments and our duties as leadership are officially finished. What a great experience, but the busy-ness has been taxing on us and on the kids, so we're glad to enter this next season which will hopefully be a little less hectic.

And speaking of seasons, I saw some definite signs of spring in the backyard this afternoon...

Micah and I haven't played outside together much since Keziah was born, but we took advantage of a few moments of sunshine (or more accurately, no rain) this afternoon while Keziah was napping.



Keziah was being a fussy-pants yesterday so I tried putting on one of our Baby Einstein videos. She was interested in it for a short while and then that was it. I love this new shirt that her Auntie Rosanna gave her. It's size 6-12 months!! I'm sure it must've shrunk in the laundry when I washed it the other day... I'm hoping it'll last until summer time, but with the way she's growing who knows!

Babies!

Guess who!

Nope - not me :)

This is a picture of my beautiful sister-in-law Elissa who is already 14 weeks pregnant with baby #1! This is the first cousin for Micah and Keziah on Erik's side of the family and we are SUPER excited! Baby is due in early September. Check out Doug & Elissa's blog for the long-awaited announcement!

And that's not the only new cousin coming in the fall - my brother Joel & his wife Laura are expecting baby #3 at the end of September! We are also really excited for them and for big sisters Maddy & Olivia!

Speaking of babies, this past week has brought back memories of exactly one year ago when I found out I was pregnant with Keziah. On March 6th of last year I took a home pregnancy test and saw an unbelievably faint line that completely changed our lives for the 2nd time! Hard to believe that was only a year ago since it seems like Keziah has been in our lives for a LONG time already!

It's been a very full week with my mom here - good, but full! On Saturday night we left BOTH kids at home with Nathan & Rosanna (Keziah was a bit of a hand-full apparently!) and we went with my mom out for supper and then to the Brian Doerksen concert. It was so good! It was long, though and we came home late and decided to skip church this morning. Instead we took turns napping (Micah was up at 5:50 so there was no chance of sleeping in!) and then Erik helped me hang up some things in Keziah's room. I'm so happy with how it turned out...

I finally framed some of the pregnancy pictures that our friend A had taken back in October...

My favourite part is the letters I found last week to spell Keziah's name. They were a PAIN to hang though! Thanks Erik for helping me :)

Meanwhile Keziah sat propped up in the rocking chair watching her Daddy work... What a little cutie!

Tomorrow morning my mom heads back to Manitoba. It was great having her here! She cooked and cleaned for me all week :) And Micah has grown quite attached to her over the past 10 days. I think he will cry for Granny when she's gone!

Fun with Granny

We've been having fun with my mom this week! Yesterday we went to visit Erik at his new job site close to the Sumas border. Him and Nathan were working on the first floor walls of this new house. The completed house that you see in the background is one that they worked on previously.


Micah got to help daddy with the hammering and Uncle Nathan let him throw a snowball in his face right before we took the last picture :) What is with all this snow anyway?

Afterwards, Granny treated us to lunch at McDonald's. We got Micah his very own grilled cheese Happy Meal (for the first time) and he almost polished the whole thing off!


And here's a picture of "Baby Za-ziah" from this past week. Having my mom around has enabled me to spend more one-on-one time with her and I'm finding that I can keep her up a lot longer between naps if I can play with her (not something I always have time for with Mr. Micah around). It seems to be helping her sleep a bit better at night, too. And the other day she giggled for the first time. SO adorable! Now I'm trying everything I can to get her to do it again!


Today we're off to Bellingham. I think Target is my favourite store!

Granny's Here!

My mom arrived here to a snowy Abbotsford afternoon on Saturday. Thankfully the snow has melted and we should be getting a bit of sunshine this week. Mom and I were both happy to see that Micah seems to remember "Granny" this time and is willing to sit with her and play with her rather than crying for Mommy & Daddy all the time. It's nice for me that Micah has someone around who's willing to watch The Doodlebops or Boowa & Kwala on the computer with him...


And here's a picture from the other day. We were washing bedding and after Micah "helped" me make our bed again I rolled him up in the duvet like a burrito. Yum!

3 Months

Keziah Katherine is 3 months old today!

Keziah is becoming more social all the time. She loves to sit up in her bouncy chair and watch her big brother playing. She hates being held like a baby now and wants to face out and look around. One major difference that I've noticed between her and Micah is that she rarely wakes up crying. She often greets me with big smiles when I go to get her from her crib. And she "talks" a lot, too - sometimes she talks the most when she's starting to get sleepy. It's very cute :)

I haven't had Keziah weighed for about a month but I took her with me on our bathroom scale this morning and I'm guessing she weighs about 14 or 15 lbs. She's well into 3-6 month clothes already! (At this age Micah weighed about 13 or 14 lbs. )

As I mentioned in my last post, her nighttime stretches are getting shorter instead of longer and we've been averaging around 4-5 hours for the past week and a half. She's also more difficult to put down to sleep than Micah was. She constantly fights her sleep and will practically squirm right out of my arms when I try to rock her. I remember that I started letting Micah cry at around 4 months and within a couple of days he went down with barely a fuss. I'm planning to do the same with Keziah and hopefully it will work for her too.

Now we are looking forward to a visit from my mom. She'll be flying in from Manitoba on Saturday and staying for 10 days. We decided that she will sleep in Micah's room, so today I made a big deal of making Micah a special bed on Mommy & Daddy's floor. He was really excited about it and he went down for his nap in there today with no problems!

Going in Reverse?

Our little girl is growing up - almost 3 months already! She is such a little blessing and full of smiles for mom and dad. But in the last week she has decided to revert to newborn sleeping habits again. Last night she had me up every 2.5 - 4 hours. After experiencing such great sleeping from her the first couple of months I'm frustrated with this turn of events! I'm really hoping it's just a growth spurt. This is yet another prime example of babies switching things up on you just when everything was going so well...




We also seem to be back-tracking a little in the soother department - but I'll admit it's partly my fault! I used to keep Micah's soothers up high on a shelf and only give them to him for sleeping, but after awhile I figured he knew the rules and I started leaving them on his dresser. In the last couple of weeks he's started "self-medicating" when he gets cranky or hurt. He'll tell me he's "really sleepy" and then head to his bed for a few minutes to have his nukies. I admit I appreciate the moments of quiet and the fact that he comes back out feeling happier. But in the last couple of days it's gotten a little excessive. He's a soother ADDICT! I think those soothers will have to go back up on the shelf again...

Kittens & Snugglies

A couple days ago, Erik's sister Kristi came home with an adorable little kitten! For those of you who don't know, Erik and I live in a ground-level suite and his parents and younger sister live in the main part of the house. So, it's like a new pet for us, too!

I've always had a soft spot for cats and on our farm growing up we were always allowed to keep at least one cat in the house. Erik's family has also had cats for house-pets in the past, but the two that I've met have both been a little psycho. The first one, Jasper, gave me a rude welcome the first time I ever went to visit Erik's family in Calgary. I was up early and I went downstairs and decided to introduce myself to her - up to this point I had never met a cat I didn't like. Well, she didn't like me. First she cornered me in the kitchen, hissing and swatting mean paws at me and when I finally escaped she chased me all the way up to my bedroom where I stayed until I knew someone else was up in the house to protect me! Then there was Toby - the cat Kristi got when they moved here to Abbotsford. This cat was a little more friendly but incredibly hyper! When he was hungry he would chase after you and claw at your bare legs - so freaky! And he was a vicious killer - dragging poor little dead animals to our doorstep nearly every day.

So, now we have "Rusty". We are hoping that she will be a much more mellow cat than the last two... Micah hasn't had much experience with kittens or any pets at all, so it's fun to watch him. The best part is, we don't have to take care of the cat, but we can play with her anytime we want!


On another subject, I was forced to put Keziah in the front carrier for her nap this afternoon. She still naps in 45-minute intervals but is often still cranky and tired when she wakes up. When I try to put her down for the 2nd half of her nap she sleeps a lot more restlessly and I often find myself holding her just so that she can get enough sleep. So, finally today I figured I would use the carrier I have even though it's not really easy to use - nor is it comfortable. I'm still wearing her right now and my back and neck are killing me. Not to mention the fact that when she sleeps her head bobs back away from me and I have to cram blankets behind her so I don't feel like it's swaying side to side when I walk!


Several times I've debated investing in something a little more comfortable/easy to use, but each time I consider it I decide I can do without it. Will I use it enough? Will Keziah get so used to being "held" all the time that she'll never sleep on her own? Will she grow out of it before I can get my money's worth?

But, if I have any more days like today, I may have to look more seriously at the Coastal Sling website...

What do you all think?

Happy Valentine's Day!

To my husband, Erik, who...

- works hard every day so that I can stay at home with the kids
- was brave enough to start his own business and is doing an amazing job!
- makes me laugh every day
- is such a hands-on parent - Thank you!
- loves the Lord and surrenders each day to Him
- is pretty hot stuff for a dad!

To my son, Micah, who...

- amazes me every day with the things he says and does
- loves the Brian Doerksen song "Holy God" and asks for it anytime we're in the car
- makes me smile and laugh constantly
- loves to read books and has some of them memorized!
- blows me kisses and helps me sing the Veggie Tales "I love you" song...

To my daughter, Keziah, who...

- greets me with a smile every time she wakes up
- is the most beautiful baby girl!
- trusts me implicitly just because I'm her mom

I love you!!

"Baby Za-Ziah"

That's the name that Micah affectionately calls Keziah. Sometimes he adds some extra za's and it turns into "Baby Za-za-za-ziah!" :)
I took a couple of videos on the weekend of Keziah talking (baby-talk that is...) She's getting really vocal and really smiley. I love it. This first video is of both of the kids - Keziah talking and Micah jumping around and just being silly. I'm trying Google Video instead of Dropshots to avoid the sound delay, but the videos may not work right away. I'm trusting Kelly that they will work eventually so you may have to check back to try them again a little later...



And here is Keziah on her changetable. You can tell there's a tickle in her nose and she finally sneezes it out right at the end!



Here's our all-Canadian boy wearing the Oilers jersey he got from Uncle Joel & Auntie Laura. We had some nice weather this weekend and him & Erik had fun playing hockey out on the driveway.

Today Micah and I baked some Valentine's Day inspired cookies. Micah mostly licked beaters and ate sprinkles, but he was happy!


Keziah fell asleep in her bouncy chair while we were busy in the kitchen. She has a really cute habit of sucking on her fingers and in this picture she had found her blanket and shoved it in her mouth before dozing off...

I was so excited to get two packages in the mail today. I've been doing a little shopping on ebay lately (who knew it could be so addicting!) and I found these two pairs of crib shoes for Keziah. They're Robeez knock-offs from Gymboree and they are SO cute! The pink ones will fit her right now and the blue ones will fit her in a few months. I bought them from two different sellers but happened to get them BOTH in the mail today - SO exciting!!

Thursday

Last night I left Erik at home with both kids for a couple of hours. He admitted he was kind of nervous to be alone with both of them and asked me how I did this all day long! He did fine, though and Keziah took her bottle like a pro. When I came home, Micah ran to me to show me a band-aid on his chin. I guess he wanted to be just like Daddy and had been wearing it all evening :)

Keziah has seemed to settle into a consistent 7-hour night stretch. She has done up to 9 hours in the past, but lately no matter how much I try to feed her in the evening, she won't go much past 7 and a half. I'm satisfied though, especially since she goes back down easily after her night feed and sometimes sleeps for another 4 hours. I still swaddle her tightly for all of her naps and bedtime. She takes a soother for sleeping and we've also found that she falls asleep much easier with a light receiving blanket over her face. Here she is yesterday during a late afternoon nap: face half-covered under a blanket and one arm escaped from the swaddle...

Lessons Learned

Erik had a crazy night the other night. It all started when he went to his regular Monday hockey game at 7 pm. Apparently about half-way through the game a guy from the opposing team high-sticked him in the chin. He started bleeding like crazy right away but figured he could keep playing. He would just rub some ice on his chin every few minutes but he said there was blood all over him. I think he thought he looked pretty tough or something...
After the game he quickly came home to see me and then planned to head out to a walk-in clinic for stitches. By this time it was 9 pm and he tried 3 different clinics that were all closed. So, that meant going to emergency. He said the place was packed as soon as he got there and the nurse warned him that it would be a few hours. Well a few hours turned into EIGHT hours! He didn't climb into bed until 5:30 am! The doctor who stitched him up said he hadn't ever seen the ER that busy in all of his 20 years.
The second problem was that Erik hadn't worn his mouth-guard. He usually wears it, but just didn't feel like it on Monday night, I guess... So, when the stick hit his chin he chomped his teeth together so hard that he cracked his front tooth. Yesterday morning after sleeping for a few hours he went to see the dentist who braced his tooth in the back with a tiny metal wire. There's a 50/50 chance that this will save the tooth, but if not, he will have to get a root canal. We have no extended health benefits now so the little wire cost us $430 and the root canal could be another $500. So, we're praying that the wire will work!

So, Erik admits that he's learned his lesson. Two lessons actually. The first: Don't try to be a man and play the rest of the game with a bleeding injury. If he would've left right when it happened, he would've been able to go to a walk-in clinic and be stitched up and at home by 9 pm. The second: Always wear the mouth-guard (and, in my opinion, a face mask, too)!