Six Weeks Later

Time sure does fly around here, and the last six weeks have been a blur of sleeplessness, milestones, and a trip to Chicago thrown in for good measure. I will do a brief update and then hopefully a picture post in the next day or two...I can't do it all at once. Here's the breakdown by subject:

Ava...
...continues to be a huge source of entertainment around here. The terrible threes are terrible indeed, but with enough of her crazy humor thrown in to make it survivable. ;o) She's doing much better sleep-wise and behavior-wise now that she's in preschool and we have a much better routine around here, so that's good! My biggest problem with her right now is the willful disobedience: looking me full in the face and saying, "NO!" The other problem is not obeying the first (or second, or third) time I tell her to do something. It drives me NUTS. I am trying to discipline her swiftly and consistently and I talk it over with her constantly (and praise her like crazy when she does make good choices) so hopefully it'll start to sink in.

On a better note, she continues to be pretty good in public (Target, the mall, etc...we don't tempt fate by taking her to restaurants or anything like that) and she's turning into an AWESOME big sister! In spite of the fact that she told me today that she doesn't want CJ because she'd rather have a sister (doesn't every girl with a little brother say that at some point?), she does adore him and is very sweet with him. She sings to him when he cries, plays with him, tries to "help" him, etc. It's wonderful to watch.

CJ...
...is growing up so fast! I'd say "too fast," but a big part of me is ready to sleep like a normal person again so even though I'll be somewhat sad when he's no longer a baby, I'm enjoying it for now but looking forward to the next stage as well. Anyhow, he's now rolling easily from back to front and can occasionally go front to back. He's started rolling onto his tummy for naps and at night, and seems to be sleeping better as a result. A contributing factor to better sleep is that he's now on Zyrtec: after having a "cold" for about six weeks, we went back to the doctor yet again and I pestered the doctor until she finally said that yes, it was okay to try Benadryl or Zyrtec (I told her that our family would not survive another night of sleeplessness due to his incessant coughing and sneezing, and honestly, that probably was not much of an exaggeration. Poor baby!) Ava had allergy issues around this age as well, which she outgrew after a couple of years.

We've also started him on food: so far, just rice cereal and bananas once a day, but I'm adding sweet potatoes tomorrow. Could've done it sooner but I like to wait until Craig is around in case he has an allergic reaction. He's taking two bottles a day (but will only take 3 ounces at a time from a bottle, he's not a big eater) and nursing 3-4 times a day, and seems to be holding steady in the middle of the growth charts. He's still kind of high maintenance about naps/bedtime, but I'm trying to let him cry more and trying not to soothe him to sleep before bed as much so that he learns to self-soothe a little better.

Craig...
...is working his butt off at work and school. He's taking his last three classes and then graduates in December, yay! He'll start an MBA program in the spring or summer, so we will get a few months' break in there, at least from his schoolwork.

Me...
I finally feel like I've settled into life at home. It can be lonely, but it is what it is: I'm starting to meet more moms through preschool and library time, etc, so hopefully soon we'll start hanging out with other people a little more. There's definitely no way I could've handled work AND taking care of my two inconsistent sleepers, so I'm happy for this opportunity to spend a few years raising them and not worrying about an outside career, even though there's a lot I miss.

I'm also exhausted more often than not, so in the interest of getting some rest tonight, I'm going to wrap things up. I guess I'll have to do a blurb on the Chicago trip later. ;o) Nite!