Cause I am spending all of my last “must pack now while kids are sleeping” minutes uploading old photos of Rt and taking new photos of Hola trying to replicate old photos of Rt. Good grief.

So, while I’m redoing old memories, let me share with you my findings.

Photos taken in ‘05 and uploaded to Ofoto have now become fuzzy. Too bad I am uber lazy and won’t go looking for that cd we put that picture on, so here is the fuzzy version of Rt at 6 month in his Halloween costume:

And here is Hola alone and then with his brother who could not stand being out of the picture. It’s understandable.

Ok, now I am complete. Off to finish packing my carry-ons. Those damn bags already weigh way too much! Those darn kids. Makes traveling light a pipe dream.

Happy Thanksgiving all!

e

It seems another week has gone by.

I am not sure where the time goes, but plenty has been going down over here to keep us busy. Real busy.

First off, hubs started his new job. (and just celebrated a birthday! HB hubs!) He now works outside the home for the first time in 5 years. I had no idea raising one, let alone TWO kids without another adult in the house would be so much EASIER! I have the rule of the entire house, no more being quiet for conference calls, etc. However, he is missed and I know the boys miss him as well.

He is only up the highway about 10 miles in a quaint little office upstairs from a fabulous European restaurant. He and his father work there while they are in town for business.

When they aren’t in town, they are about 3 hours away in their central office. That is where he is right now. For the most part, hubs will be traveling less than he was before, but for longer stints. I was the one who suggested this new system cause it’s a hell of a lot easier to plan for him being away when it doesn’t happen every week of your life. When he is away, he’s away, but we just buckle down, keep ourselves busy during the days and hope for lots of sleep at night.

Speaking of, Hola is on his way to being a great sleeper. Did you see the part “ON HIS WAY?” That means, NOT YET. Being able to roll around with all appendages at his fingertips makes for initial difficult nights. But now? He’s getting the hang of it and only needs us to reset him in the night and falls back asleep on his own. MAJOR PROGRESS. It hasn’t been easy for any of us, but we have stayed the course and are seeing huge benefits. I guess anything is better than being awakened every HOUR in the night for a week, right? (It wasn’t THAT bad. Wait, it actually was pretty awful, but I don’t think his teeth had as much to do with the sleep issues as his new found freedom.)

Oh, and Hola is now 7 months old! His new noise is “GA!” and his is blowing raspberries at all the wrong times. Trying to feed a baby with a new trick makes for lots of mess, all over me! He is still army crawling, doing a downward dog, trying to go from a crawl stance to a seated position, but since he still can’t sit up without throwing himself backwards, that trick might have to wait a bit. I swear he knows the sign for milk, or as we say “Ba ba.” I got his 6 month pictures taken the day before he turned 7 months, so here is Hola’s latest photo op.

Other than that, we are planning for our trip back to Oklahoma early next week. Since my grandmother passed last year, Tulsa is our new OK destination. (All of my aunt and uncles live there along with a handful of cousins.) Spending a week seeing and doing this will definitely NOT suck. Well, as long as we’re getting sleep right?

So, Hola may be giving us and himself a run for his money in the sleep department this past week, but the boy is a much better eater than his brother.

I admit to prying Rt’s mouth open when he was beginning to eat solids, just to get some calories down that boy, but Hola? Hola opens his mouth and takes in the grub happily. No tears, from mother OR baby. What a lovely experience! Ah!

The other day, I was asking a girlfriend of mine, Allie, about avocados. I had tried them with Rt, half-heartily, I am sure, and did not succeed. This time, I was ready to give it the effort it needed. She told me to puree banana with my avocado to help Hola enjoy the taste of the new (somewhat bland) food. Genius!

So, off to Trader Joe’s I went. Organic avocados, check, organic bananas, check.

Now, all I had to do was wait till those puppies ripened.

tick, tock,

Hurry up already!

Squish, Squish.

Ok, good enough.

4 avocados, 1 1/2 bananas later.

A pureed mixture was born. Ice cube trays. Freezer. Voila! Meals for a good while. (ok, a few days.)

I took a couple of cubes out of the freezer today, defrosted them in the microwave, added a bit of water to reach perfect consistency and away we went.

First bite followed by………………..another open mouth.

TOTAL SCORE!

Woo hoo! WOO HOO!

What a feeling. The first food I made from scratch was a success! (I made sweet potatoes for Rt once and he turned his nose up at me. I right then and there quit my quest for homemade baby food and away we went with the jars.)

I’m thinking I want to expand. Maybe one food per week? Build a small supply in the freezer? Would sure help my budget. Well, buying organic fruit/veggies isn’t cheaper, per say, maybe save a jar or two?!

Either way, I am just thrilled at our little success. Funny how the little things can outweigh the bigger issue. (SLEEP) Well, for the moment anyway.

e

To add another component to this post, last night I woke myself up by trying to feed hubs imaginary food with an imaginary spoon. He looked at me like I was FREAKIN CRAZY! Hey, that’s what you get when you’re sleep deprived. Getting better, though. getting better is all I’ll say for now……

          ‘Twas the night before the Election, when all through our pad

not a child was sleeping, not even the 3 yr old. lad.

The bottle was made by the nursery with love,
and hoped that sweet Hola would sleep tight like a glove.

The baby was nestled all snug in his bed,
with waves of teething pain taking over his head.

And hubs in his boxers, and I in my shirt,
had just settled our brains from being so kiddie alert. 

When out of the nursery there arose such a clatter,
I sprang from my bed to see what was the matter.

Away to the hallway I stumbled like a freak,
tore open the door, to take just a peak.

He rolled side to side, cried louder than a whistle,
And gnawed on his hands, teeth as sharp as a thistle.
I heard him shout out, as he cried there in pain,

“Congrats to Obama and all, but no one will sleep here again!”

 Yes, this is my failed attempt at humor for what has been quite trying times in our house. Last night was the first night in 4 nights, hubs and I got more than 2 hours of sleep in a row. We are seeing progress, but 3 nights of waking EVERY HOUR in the night makes for long nights and even LONGER DAYS.

(and no, no new teeth have popped yet.) (and we did use the camilia last night before bed. Maybe that was what helped?!?!(and being unswaddled isn’t helping, but he is getting the hang of it. We are coming out of the woods. I hope.)

Currently, Hola is sleeping in the swing. He needs his rest, no matter how he gets it.

This too shall pass.

Deep breathe.

e

Rt and Hola enjoyed Halloween this year with their cousins in Oregon.

Post on entire trip to come tomorrow. Currently in major pain after rolling my ankle in parking lot of preschool ALL BY MYSELF. No one saw me, or at least no one fest up. I’ve never felt this much pain with a roll since I broke my ankle in gymnastics.

e