Now I need a real weekend

It's been nice to not go to work, but man alive, Carmen and I need a real vacation, I think.

Our jobs have both been very demanding recently and Jayden is going through whatever it is he's going through, besides just the transition to his toddler bed.  He won't sleep at all, ever.

Friday night was good, I got him to sleep pretty quickly, and painlessly, as I reported.  We had been at my work party that afternoon, so I think I tired him out pretty well.  He had fun, I think, at the party, even his meal consisted of tortilla chips, ice cream and a bite of brownie.

In my co-worker's back yard, playing with a ball.

Heading towards the stairs, which he knew was not allowed, with the ball...

Carmen got home late Friday night and it was off to swimming as usual yesterday.  We're trying to see if he'll nap downstairs in a pack n play, since he already hates napping and I know there's no way he'll nap in the toddler bed.  And I'd really like it if he'd nap someplace other than the car or the stroller.  Yesterday it worked eventually.  Today (right now), it's not going as well.

Last night was a disaster.  He finally fell asleep around 9:00 pm, after screaming for 1-1/2 hours, with Carmen on the floor of his room.  He woke up an hour or so later, screaming again, and wouldn't go back to sleep.  So I got myself ready for bed and laid down on the floor of his room with him in his bed.  He decided he couldn't sleep in his bed, so he moved to the floor and finally passed out on the floor next to me.  I slept there until about 3:30 am, when I moved him back to his bed and I went to mine.  This morning he was awake again around 6:45 am.  Hence his temper tantrum now that it's naptime.

The positives:
We are FINALLY able to enjoy our backyard, and it is wonderful.

Playing with the basketball and the truck!

An "action" shot of Jayden falling to the ground! (he was fine - this is a regular occurrence and his shorts are long enough to cover his knees)

We came back inside for lunch and Jayden sat on his stool and said "Mama.  Lap."  And patted his lap.  So I went and sat on his lap.  Hilarious.

And now we'll spend the afternoon running errands and trying to control the two year old.  Happy Sunday everyone!

Success! (Sort of)

He still cried for 45 minutes,  or maybe a little less, but he finally crawled into his own bed and passed out. Now if we can just eliminate the hysterics and if only the bed rail would arrive early...

Hopefully you can see the image. It looks a little like an ultrasound, but it's Jayden laying diagonally across his bed, his feet hanging off the side of the bed.

The dreaded toddler bed

Here is the bedtime set up for Jayden. Let's really hope he sleeps tonight!

Changes, changes

Last week Jayden did not want to go to bed, so he tried to climb out.  And succeeded.  I had just closed his door and started to walk downstairs when I heard this huge thud. Over the past few weeks I'd seen him trying to put his leg over the crib rail, but not usually getting that far.  Welllll, this time he made it.  I ran in and he was flat on his back, his head towards the crib, looking at me.  Well that scared me half to death (and him too, I think).  So I vowed that we would transform his crib into a toddler bed as soon as we got back from our trip.  and I did.  30 hours later, it may have been a mistake.

I don't know if it's because he slept with me/us for two nights in Oregon or if it's switching to the toddler bed or if it's some combination of the two, but the last two nights have been disastrous.  Last night I had to go to a work meeting so Carmen had bedtime duty solo.  When I got home at 9:00 pm, Carmen was just barely coming downstairs after laying there holding Jayden's hand for twenty minutes while he passed out.  Tonight was my turn; he passed out twice in the hallway, and finally he's almost sleeping at 9:30 pm.  He's going to be an unhappy kid tomorrow - although he did take a three hour nap at Juju's today.

Carmen is gone for the next three nights, so we'll see how it goes for me.  I have a feeling it won't be pretty.  But I'll eat dinner with him and just make the best of it.  If I get less sleep, then that's just the way it is.

I've also ordered a crib rail - because it turns out those things aren't just regularly available.  They make rails that you can attach to beds, but not to convertible cribs.  And if we bought our crib now, then we'd get a crib rail with it, but since ours is two years old not only did it not come with a crib rail, but we can't get one that works with this model.  Awesome.  So one was just shipped to me and I'm praying UPS is fast and gets it here sooner rather than later.

These are just two random pictures from the past week that I haven't had the time to share:

One morning last week he decided he wanted to wear his winter jacket.  Nevermind that it was eighty degrees that day.  By the time we got in the car to go to Juju's he'd gotten over it, luckily.  He also didn't want to sit in his highchair to eat breakfast that day.  Eventually he got over that too, luckily.

He also got a new pair of shoes.  They are one size too big - his feet are growing ridiculously fast - but he wanted to wear them that day.  And I think we were getting ready for the shower so we were working on undressing.  But then the shoes.  And it's just such a funny picture!

The funniest thing about this switching to a toddler bed is I'm still worried about him falling out.  I put pillows next to the bed, so if he does roll out, he'll at least land on something soft.  Last night I barely slept, waiting for a thud and a wail.  Well, I woke up around 1 or 2 am and grabbed the monitor.  I thought I saw him curled up in the corner, so I just watched for a bit and waited for him to move.  I soon realized that the thing in the corner was a stuffed animal, and that he was sleeping on his stomach in the middle of the floor of his room.  I dozed for a bit, woke up and he had moved a few feet towards the basket of stuffed animals on his floor.  A little later, he had moved a few more feet towards his chair and the closet.  Later in the morning, he actually crawled back into bed and laid down for a bit.  This whole time, he was asleep or relatively asleep.  He made no noises, no cries, no nothing.  It's not completely safe, but it's rather hilarious.  I'm sure I'll keep at least half an ear on him all night tonight too, but until I get that rail I think that's how it's going to be.  I'm going to need to sleep twelve hours by the time the weekend rolls around.  But so will he, so maybe it'll work out!

Oregon wedding adventure

We're back from our whirlwind trip to Oregon.  It was a lot of fun, but it involved some mishaps as well.  Getting there was fine - we made it to the airport, we didn't forget anything, the plane was on time, Jayden napped for 1-1/2 hours of the flight, it all worked out well.  

Again, using baba as a pacifier during take-off allowed him to pass right out once we got up in the air.  He did the same thing on the flight home, only he slept for almost the entire 2 hour flight.

Once we landed in Oregon, however, things got interesting.  The main highway that we needed to take was closed, meaning we had to find a detour, adding an extra 20 minutes or so to our already long drive.  Once we finally got on the road and figured out where we were going, Alaska Airlines called me and asked if I'd forgotten an item at the airport.  I thought, "no, of course not."  Then the lady said something about a pack n play, and it dawned on me - we had checked a pack n play, and lo and behold, it was not in our car.  Hmph.  So back to the airport we went.  It did give me time to find a better alternate route to get across town, but Carmen and I were both frustrated at this point.  We finally get to where we're going (the Nike employee store where we spent too much money) and get on the road to the hotel.  We were supposed to get to the hotel, where my friend and her son were staying, around 6:30 or so.  Due to the detours and delays, we ended up stopping for dinner on the way and not getting to the hotel until around 8:30.  We go to check in and they tell us our reservation is for the next day and they are completely booked and there's nothing they can do.  By this point it is waaay past Jayden's bedtime and Carmen and I are both exhausted.  I go to say hello to my friend, tell her the drama and then let her try to finagle her two year old into bed.  We drive half an hour back the way we came to one of the few hotels anywhere nearby with a room for the night, unpack and pass out (Jayden in the bed with me, because of course he won't sleep in the pack n play, which we might as well have left at the airport).

The next morning we drive back to the the town where the hotel is to meet my friend and her son at the park.  This is when the trip started to get good.  My friend's son is about 25 or 26 months old  - only a few months older than Jayden.  They're about the same size, and my friend has been telling her son (Reid) about Jayden for the past few days.  So when he finally meets him, he goes "Jay-den!"  They become fast friends, following each other around the playground and grass, with Reid doing most of the leading and Jayden most of the following.  Jayden even got on the swing because Reid wanted to get on the swing - and Jayden usually hates the swing!

On the tire swing - Reid's "smile"!

"hanging" out

Hey - look at the camera!  Good job, Reid.  Now, Jayden?

1, 2, 3, swing!  Good job Reid.  Jayden?

Great job Jayden - now Reid - ohhh.  Neither Carissa nor I could them to both swing and look at the camera at the same time.  Oh well.  I absolutely adore the series, so it was worth it anyway.

On the sailboat.  Reid had the idea that to "sail" you had to hold on to the handle on both sides and wrap your body around the end of the sail.  It was pretty awesome.

Jayden ran through a mud puddle multiple times and got his shoes dirty.  He does not like to have his shoes dirty.  This is him pointing out his dirty shoes to me.  Soooo, he went barefoot.  And when Jayden went barefoot, Reid wanted to go barefoot too.  Even though Carissa said he usually hates it; once Jayden did it, he wanted to do it too.  

The five of us ate lunch together and then Carissa and Reid left to walk back to the hotel and hopefully get Reid to pass out.  As soon as they left, Jayden became very anxious and started pointing and saying "Ree? Ree?"  It was cute - they really became good friends in a matter of minutes.

The wedding was that night and it was beautiful.  There were huge grassy fields for the kids to run around in and they definitely got their moneys' worth.  Carissa, Carmen and I didn't get to participate much in the festivities - we were mostly chasing kids, breaking up fights over cars, supervising them as they tried to chase the duck around the pond, etc.  In fact, we were both so busy that neither Carissa nor I really got any pictures of anything!

Phil and her husband!  It was the first time I'd met him.  She is just so happy, and he seems like a cool guy.  They're off to Scotland to honeymoon right now, lucky them!

Carissa and her baby (who's not so much a baby really).

Carmen and I and our baby.  Who is totally still a baby.  :)

The kids did great and stayed up until 8:30 or so when we all decided it was time to head home and save ourselves the pain of another 10 pm night.  Turns out we got a 10 pm night because Carmen thought it would be good to stuff Jayden's stomach full of cupcake at about 8:00 pm.  Since it was apparently my job to get him to sleep, we tossed and turned for a while until he finally passed out.

Our trip home was uneventful.  Like I said, Jayden slept wonderfully and people afterwards commented how he'd barely made a peep and how well he did.  When kids are passed out they rarely make noises, so I guess that's the key.  I just don't know what we're going to do when we get on a flight that's more than 2 hours; it's going to be rough.  But we're back, and we're back to work and Juju's and all of that.