Cry baby

So...My sweet little Finn has gotten to the ripe old age of six months.  We've decided to try the "crying it out" method.  I know Ferber says the idea of this is not to make babies cry but to keep them from crying, or something to that effect.  Yeah right is what I say.  He's been crying for a half hour now.  Josh has been checking him every five minutes or so and patting him like you are supposed to, but when all the boy wants you to do is pick him up, that is the ONLY thing that is going to make him calm down.  I get so stressed when one of the boys is crying like that.

We tried it with Max too at about nine months old.  He had been sleeping with us until then.  It was torture with him because he could actually stand up, so we kept having to lay him down and leave again and again.  I was in the room next door crying while he was crying.  We gave up after about two or three days with him because we couldn't stand it.  At about 15 months, we put a mattress on the floor and started laying down with him and then sneaking out after he fell asleep.  At about 26 months, Josh used the Super Nanny's trick and worked his way out of the room over a week's time, each night sitting a little farther away.  It worked fabulously!

****Josh has gotten Finn and is now standing and rocking with him.  Finn is already asleep.

Leo was a different animal.  He stayed pretty scheduled with eating, and I would just nurse him at night while Josh was reading and praying with Max.  I could just lay him down after he fell asleep, and he would actually stay asleep in his crib!  He would wake up to eat once or twice for awhile, but he amazingly started sleeping through the night.  His struggles didn't start until 20 months when we moved to St. Louis.  We had started laying with him in a big bed a few months before we moved.  Once we got here, he started fighting us.  It would take an hour sometimes before he would fall asleep.  Josh and I started fighting over who would do bedtime because neither of us wanted to lay there that long.  He had studying he needed to do, and I always ended up falling asleep when I needed to be doing laundry or something.  We eventually started having he and Max sleep in the same bed, and we would lay with them after we read and prayed with them, and he did a little better.  When we moved into our new apartment, we got them bunk beds.  At this stage, Josh was working every night.  I was eight months pregnant with Finn then, so I didn't have the energy or the patience to wait for Josh to come home to debate about who would do bedtime, so I just told them I couldn't lay down with them both since they were in separate beds.  We just roll our desk chair in and do the routine, and then we're out.  They call out occasionally and get in bed with us occasionally, but all in all it's alright.  

I was just telling Josh that I feel guilty whichever way we do it.  If we put them down to cry, then my heart breaks because I know they feel abandoned.  If they sleep with us, then I worry about SIDS because all the docs say that's a threat.  I've come to the conclusion tonight, though, that I refuse to feel guilty about letting my baby sleep with us.  We both love cuddling with him, I can nurse without really having to wake up, and he doesn't have to feel abandoned.  

When Finn is bigger, we'll move him to a big bed like his brothers and lay down with him if we have to.  As for now, I'm going to nurse my little guy and enjoy his squishy little body.  I'll get to sleep through the night someday.

Spring, come!

So... I really don't enjoy winter.  The snow and the cold is fun for about a week.  I can handle it until Christmas, and then I'm ready for the sun and the spring flowers.  I cannot tell you how annoying it becomes to bundle up three little people besides myself, not to mention the sickness. It seems we all get sicker in the winter.  I don't know; maybe that's the way for everyone.  

Poor little Leo....  Everybody but Josh has a cold.  Leo has had a fever all week as well as the cold. He is so pitiful when he feels bad.  I took him to the doctor today and found out he has an ear infection.  Hmm.  No wonder he has been complaining every time we put the thermometer in his ear.  

Last night was sure a treat because of his sickness.  First, he was standing in his seat at the table, which we repeatedly tell him not to do.  You know what happened next.  Yep, he flipped over backward.  He didn't hurt anywhere but really scared himself.  The onslaught of tears followed.  If you'll recall, I said he had a cold, so the snot overflowed.  Now, Leo, in case you don't know him, has a really sensitive gag reflex.  Therefore, when all the snot and tears started flowing, and he started gagging, he proceeded to puke up the taco he had just eaten.  I, of course, sent him to the bathroom to finish.  While I was getting some Clorox wipes to clean up his "stuff", he came in the kitchen telling me, "Mom, I'm red!"  I had my back turned to him, so I just assumed he had caught sight of himself in the mirror and noticed his cheeks were red, as they usually get when he cries.  I turned to look at him, and I believe the words out of my mouth were, "Oh crap!"  He had a nosebleed.  I'm not sure if the fall caused it or the puking or the ibuprofen that I had given him earlier (ibuprofen makes blood vessels constrict in case you weren't aware), or I suppose it could have been all three together.  Anyway, it was quite an ordeal.  Of course, at the same time I was trying to get Leo taken care of Finn was screaming on my lap because he was sleepy, and Max chose that moment to try and tell me some superhero scenario that he was acting out.  As nicely as I could, I had to ask him not to talk to me at the present time because it was a little hard to hear him with Leo crying and Finn screaming. Needless to say, it was a fairly eventful evening, but it turned out okay.  

Max

So... Josh and I have decided to have Max tested.  He's our 5-year-old son.  We've got some issues with schooling (we homeschool).  We really feel that he is above average, and yes, I realize all parents think that about their children.  We'd like to know his learning style so as to teach him in the most effective way, but we also want to know his IQ.  It's not like we plan on going around telling everyone what his numbers are once we find out, but we feel like it will help us understand him better.  Is it terrible to want to know how brilliant your child is?

Organic eating

So...We recently ordered a quarter of a cow.  Yes, I said a cow.  My friend, who is really good about eating healthily and organically and had gotten the same amount last year, was able to get it for us.  A lot of people here at the seminary were inquisitive.   

This lead to conversations about Josh's vegetarianism, which he has recently kind of quit. 

When he originally claimed this state of meatless existence, he told me he would eat meat only if it was free range (after reading an article about animal cruelty that really got to him).  Well, there was maybe one place that was accessible to us back in WV to buy it, and it was way too expensive.  Therefore, we started eating a lot of soy substitutes.  Here in St. Louis, however, there are a few options, so we started getting free range chicken and turkey.  We were never really able to find any beef that was actually labeled "free range".  It was always "hormone free" or "organic".  Don't get me wrong; these things are important, but they weren't priority for some reason.  Now that I think back on it, we were pretty much saying that we didn't want the animals to be treated cruelly, but it was okay for our boys to eat hormone infested meat.  What goofballs we are sometimes.  I digress.

I kept having all these moms ask me about buying a cow and also some who wanted to start eating organically because we are sort of doing that now.  Anyway, my friend that got the cow for us is way more knowledgeable about this stuff, so she and I decided to see if anyone wanted to get together to discuss this sort of thing.  Well, I thought maybe five people might want to come.  We actually have ten including me that want to come.  I'm really excited that so many people are trying to eat healthy.  I'm hoping it will keep us motivated to continue.

I don't know if this is coherent or not, but that's what is going on this week.

So...  Blogging.  I've just gotten started.  Now that I've gotten the whole thing set up, I'm ready to quit.  I think I'll go make some dinner and post something worthwhile tomorrow.