Saturday, February 28, 2009
Pics
We went to the park yesterday, and I took a few pics of the boys playing. Afterward we went and picked up Daddy from work when he came in from the field, and I got a few of Aiden playing on Chris' humvee.
The Beginning of the End...
...actually, it's more like the End of the Beginning. Jack took 2 steps the other night. And while this accomplishment makes me proud and excited, I'm also a little bit sad. He's just growing so fast I feel like I can't keep up. Just yesterday he was my baby, now he's starting to walk and talk. It's funny how things change from kid to kid. I couldn't wait for Aiden to walk, I was so excited to see all the things he would learn how to do. Now with Jack I just want him to stay a baby. I'm not ready for him to grow up yet, and walking is the first step...so to speak. Pretty soon he'll be running and jumping and generally driving me crazy, just like his big brother.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Miracles
They do happen. Case in point....
Yesterday morning when I was channel-surfing at 6 am with Jack, I came across the show Good Day LA (a morning news show in the LA area), which was featuring a segment with an Australian pediatrician named Dr. Henry Zehnwirth. He developed a CD and program he called Sounds For Silence, to help restless babies go to sleep and stay asleep. I thought to myself, I need to watch this....
The CD is basically a combination of different white noises they've tested on all kinds of babies, along with a selection of soft classical music. The noises include a vacuum cleaner, street sounds, heartbeats, that kind of thing. They even showed a demonstration of a baby zonking out in under 2 minutes while listening to the music. He said that 9 out of 10 babies in their tests responded to the sounds in under 2 minutes. Maybe it was because of my extreme sleep deprivation, but I decided I HAD to have this CD. I wanted to incorporate it into my sleep training method I'm working on with Jack. He still wakes up 6 or 7 times a night most nights, but he's slowly getting better. I thought this might help speed the process up a bit.
I tried something similar with Aiden when he was a baby, a CD of heartbeat noises the hospital gave me. It didn't work. At all. So I was a bit skeptical, but like I said, in my current state I am willing to try anything. So I went to the website, bought and downloaded the music and we loaded it on the iPod last night.
We set up a pair of small speakers right next to the crib and played the music quietly, all night long. A miracle occured. Jack slept almost all night long. Seriously! He woke up once around 2:30 and was standing up in his crib, so I went to him, laid him back down, helped him find his binky and he was back asleep in under 30 seconds. I heard him stir a few times during the night, but he just made a few fussy noises, then rolled over and went back to sleep - without my help or intervention. And one other thing - absolutely no crying involved.
So I'm now a believer in Sounds For Silence. I realize it's only been one night, but I'm sold. It's amazing what 8 hours of sleep will do for a Mommy! So we are going to incorporate this into our routine, and *hopefully* in a month or two he'll be sleeping well enough to move him out of our room and into Aiden's room, as we are having the boys share a room.
If you have a baby who doesn't like to sleep, I highly recommend this CD. The website is Sounds For Silence. Now I've given you the Australian website, it's actually cheaper to order it from there. They sell it on Amazon but it's around $60 for the CD, book and download. I bought the same package on the Aussie website for around $45 US, including shipping. This gives you the downloadable version, along with a CD and book they will send you in the mail. You can also just buy the downloadable version if you want.
If you are sleep deprived like I am - TRY IT!
Yesterday morning when I was channel-surfing at 6 am with Jack, I came across the show Good Day LA (a morning news show in the LA area), which was featuring a segment with an Australian pediatrician named Dr. Henry Zehnwirth. He developed a CD and program he called Sounds For Silence, to help restless babies go to sleep and stay asleep. I thought to myself, I need to watch this....
The CD is basically a combination of different white noises they've tested on all kinds of babies, along with a selection of soft classical music. The noises include a vacuum cleaner, street sounds, heartbeats, that kind of thing. They even showed a demonstration of a baby zonking out in under 2 minutes while listening to the music. He said that 9 out of 10 babies in their tests responded to the sounds in under 2 minutes. Maybe it was because of my extreme sleep deprivation, but I decided I HAD to have this CD. I wanted to incorporate it into my sleep training method I'm working on with Jack. He still wakes up 6 or 7 times a night most nights, but he's slowly getting better. I thought this might help speed the process up a bit.
I tried something similar with Aiden when he was a baby, a CD of heartbeat noises the hospital gave me. It didn't work. At all. So I was a bit skeptical, but like I said, in my current state I am willing to try anything. So I went to the website, bought and downloaded the music and we loaded it on the iPod last night.
We set up a pair of small speakers right next to the crib and played the music quietly, all night long. A miracle occured. Jack slept almost all night long. Seriously! He woke up once around 2:30 and was standing up in his crib, so I went to him, laid him back down, helped him find his binky and he was back asleep in under 30 seconds. I heard him stir a few times during the night, but he just made a few fussy noises, then rolled over and went back to sleep - without my help or intervention. And one other thing - absolutely no crying involved.
So I'm now a believer in Sounds For Silence. I realize it's only been one night, but I'm sold. It's amazing what 8 hours of sleep will do for a Mommy! So we are going to incorporate this into our routine, and *hopefully* in a month or two he'll be sleeping well enough to move him out of our room and into Aiden's room, as we are having the boys share a room.
If you have a baby who doesn't like to sleep, I highly recommend this CD. The website is Sounds For Silence. Now I've given you the Australian website, it's actually cheaper to order it from there. They sell it on Amazon but it's around $60 for the CD, book and download. I bought the same package on the Aussie website for around $45 US, including shipping. This gives you the downloadable version, along with a CD and book they will send you in the mail. You can also just buy the downloadable version if you want.
If you are sleep deprived like I am - TRY IT!
Tuesday, February 10, 2009
Boys and Their Toys
Aiden has recently been introduced to a modern classic - Star Wars. He LOVES it. It cracks me up that it came out 30 years before he was born. Some might say that 3 is too young for Star Wars, but my mom took me to see Return of the Jedi when I was 3 (of course, this is when it was actually at the theater...the first time....)
Anyway, during our last visit to Disneyland - before the rain hit - Daddy took Aiden on Autotopia and I decided to do some shopping. I stumbled upon a real, live, Lightsaber at the Star Wars store in Tomorrowland. Of course, I HAD to buy it. You may think I'm crazy, putting something like that in the hands of an overactive 3 year-old, but...I have boys. My philosophy is this - if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Rather than visualize all the breakables he would knock over with it, I chose to think about the look of absolute joy that would appear on his little face when I presented it to him.
I was not disappointed.
He now plays with his Lightsaber (which he calls his "quarter" and no, I have absolutely no idea why), all the time. He slays invisible monsters and tells me that he's "Skywalker"! He even does these little tucks and rolls and acts like he's really in a sword-fight. It's hysterical to watch, and one of these days I'll record it.
So, while he may have knocked a few things over, whacked the wall a time or two and almost impaled his little brother (who incidentally also loves to play with the "quarter" and needs one of his own), I've sparked his boyish imagination, and opened up whole new worlds of play-time.
What's a few broken knick-knacks compared to that?
Anyway, during our last visit to Disneyland - before the rain hit - Daddy took Aiden on Autotopia and I decided to do some shopping. I stumbled upon a real, live, Lightsaber at the Star Wars store in Tomorrowland. Of course, I HAD to buy it. You may think I'm crazy, putting something like that in the hands of an overactive 3 year-old, but...I have boys. My philosophy is this - if you can't beat 'em, join 'em. Rather than visualize all the breakables he would knock over with it, I chose to think about the look of absolute joy that would appear on his little face when I presented it to him.
I was not disappointed.
He now plays with his Lightsaber (which he calls his "quarter" and no, I have absolutely no idea why), all the time. He slays invisible monsters and tells me that he's "Skywalker"! He even does these little tucks and rolls and acts like he's really in a sword-fight. It's hysterical to watch, and one of these days I'll record it.
So, while he may have knocked a few things over, whacked the wall a time or two and almost impaled his little brother (who incidentally also loves to play with the "quarter" and needs one of his own), I've sparked his boyish imagination, and opened up whole new worlds of play-time.
What's a few broken knick-knacks compared to that?
Saturday, February 7, 2009
Bummer
Well, we went to Disneyland on Thursday, and it was all fine and great until about 3 pm, when it started pouring. I'm not talking a little drizzle, I'm talking cats and dogs. As fun as Disneyland is, its just not fun in the pouring down rain with 2 small, grumpy, wet kids, so we decided to call it a day and headed back to the hotel. We woke up Friday morning planning to go back, but it was still raining, and according to the weather channel had no plans to stop anytime soon, so we had to just come home. It was a big, fat bummer. But we are going back next month, so hopefully we'll have more fun then! Unfortunately, I didn't really get any pictures, so they'll have to wait until next month.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Back Again
Chris has a 4 day weekend this weekend, so we are leaving tomorrow for Disneyland again, staying in Anaheim on Wednesday night, going to the park all day Thursday and part of Friday, and then driving home Friday evening. We bought these passes so we are taking advantage of them!! It's nice to be only 2 hours away, so we can go for just a day if we want to. In looking for a hotel I decided to try Hotwire, I've never used them before. I actually got the Hilton Anaheim and Towers for $55 a night! I'll definitely take that!
Anyway, we are hoping that the park is less crowded this time, since it's February and also the middle of the week. I'm also hoping that this time around Aiden will know a little more what to expect, and won't have meltdowns when we have to stand in line. I know...wishful thinking, right?
Look for pictures on Friday evening or Saturday!
Anyway, we are hoping that the park is less crowded this time, since it's February and also the middle of the week. I'm also hoping that this time around Aiden will know a little more what to expect, and won't have meltdowns when we have to stand in line. I know...wishful thinking, right?
Look for pictures on Friday evening or Saturday!
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