Getting settled in

Peter headed away for 6 months on Saturday It was really tough to say good-bye - tougher than I thought. Nathan did much better than I thought he would and continues to do quite well. We know that he's doing what God wants for our family and we know that the end result will be worth all this in-between craziness, but it's still going to be a tough time for our family all around.

The kids and I have moved in with my parents for the time that he's away. Saturday and yesterday were crazy. Saturday after Peter flew out we went back home, packed what we needed, and cleaned until 6 p.m. I wanted to leave the house ready for a showing just in case. Then we headed to my parent's house and got here around 9:30 p.m. We did well that night to get everything out of the vehicles and the kids in their beds. Peter called that night to let me know he had arrived safely but we didn't chat for long.

Yesterday was another crazy day. I headed back to the city we'd been living in for church. In the afternoon I had a school meeting. There was also an open house at our place, so I went home between church and my meeting to turn on all the lights, etc ... I got back to my parent's house with the kids around 6 last night and they had a 'normal' bedtime routine, etc ... which was great. Before Nathan went to bed we did a video chat with Peter. Nathan was very excited to see Daddy and he told him 'I lub you' several times. It's so good that he's able to communicate so well now compared to even a few months ago.

I decided I would wait to unpack until this morning as I was pretty exhausted last night. I got up this morning and started. I've been working away steadily and everything pretty much has a place now. Both the kids are napping and I'm just taking a break for a few minutes. I'm trying not to think about how long 6 months is ... just focusing on one day at a time!

Stayin' Alive

Yep, I'm still here. I realize posts have been scarce this week. Peter has been off and he leaves for six months tomorrow! He will be returning just in time for Christmas. I love Christmas any year but this one will be extra special!

Since I missed Hannah's 12 week post I'll just put a few highlights here. She has still been sleeping wonderfully! She sleeps easily between 10 and 12 hours per night. The earliest she has woken in the past week is 6:40 a.m. Talk about amazing. I am completely shocked with how well she's doing. I have been trying to keep her up for the 2 hours at supper time but she has trouble making it past 90 minutes.

I tried stopping the swaddle during this week and it seems now to be ok for night-time sleep but she really doesn't nap as well without it. I restarted swaddling her today and she seems to like it much better.

She fell out of love with her activity mat late last week so we were doing more playpen and bouncy seat time. I tried her on the mat this afternoon and she seemed much happier. I will be taking it with me when we move to my parent's house.

Other than that, this week has been spent preparing for Peter's departure. Tuesday night we went on a date. We went to see The Proposal and it was actually better than I expected! We laughed out loud many times throughout the movie.

I can't believe Hannah will be 3 months old next week!

Nathan - 25 months

I would like to keep monthly updates of Nathan (and future kids) after they hit a point where each week there is not enough to update :) Since Nathan is obviously past that point (although his learning capacity at the moment is staggering!) we'll start with monthly updates now.

Skills Learned
Nathan learned how to open doors (with doorknobs that turn) this month. He's only done it once so far, though!
He has started to hold a crayon / marker more correctly this month. I have been helping him hold one and trace letters during our structured one-on-one time in the mornings.

Interesting Vocabulary / Speech Patterns
'Okay' (said slowly, emphatically, and with a pause between the 'O' and the 'kay') was a fun word that Nathan learned this month.
I also love when he says 'Hannah happy.' It makes me happy :) Just the inflection in his voice.
He learned the word 'splash' on our first day at the lake this month ... while throwing rocks into the water.
He also has learned how to say 'Yep, Mama' this month and knows what it means.

Training / Correction
We were working on Nathan doing what we instruct him to do this month. I really started working on this about 10 days ago. He's always been fairly obedient but, like a normal toddler, often ignores us when he wants to do something different than what we tell him to. I was tired of repeating myself a million times so decided to require a 'yes, mommy' from him when I tell him to do something.

He has mastered how to say the phrase 'yep, mama' and will say it about half the time when prompted. He was really good at saying it the first few days but then he started to understand what it meant. Now if he doesn't want to do something he'll resist saying it.

Eating
Nathan tried raw vegetables for the first time this month! For a long time I only gave him cooked vegetables because of choking hazards, and when I started trying to introduce raw ones he stuck his nose up at them. I've been consistent in offering them whenever we have them (which is very often in the summer!) and he finally ate some lettuce and peppers this week. We found out carrots are still too hard for his teeth, so I'll grate those next time.

Nathan also started eating both apples (without peeling / slicing them first) and corn on the cob this month! He *loves* corn on the cob and will eat 2 ears whenever we have it.

Potty Training
We haven't officially started training Nathan yet. This month I bought Potty Training 1-2-3 by Gary Ezzo and bought Nathan some training pants and regular underwear. Nathan used the potty twice. We plan to start really training (but still casually - we're not going to try the intensive 1 day plan) within the next month.

Miscellaneous
Nathan and Peter went to see Bob the Builder in a play / musical this month. He really enjoyed it and it was nice for he and Peter to get to experience that together. Here is a picture of his face while he watched.


And him hugging the kitty:

Piano

Growing up I was given free piano lessons for about 8 years from the organist in our church. She was also my assigned mentor and this was one of the (many) things she did for me. I appreciate what she poured into my life over those years as well as her prayers since I was 6 years old.

Like most kids I wasn't all that keen on practicing daily. I did a program that had me go through books of songs (rather than learn a few songs really well in a year) so sight-reading was something at which I became quite proficient. I also learned to play by chord - very helpful when playing with a worship team. I was never very good at improvising from the chords, though. I blame that on my lack of imagination.

When I moved out for university and then got married the next year, we went without a piano for several years. Once we built our house we inherited a piano, but it was in pretty bad shape, so I didn't play it. With our upcoming move, Peter started selling off some stuff we were not going to use again, including the piano. At the end of it he had enough money to buy me a really nice electric piano!

It is a stage piano so it does not have any speakers in the piano itself. So far I've been playing it with headphones (we're saving up for some nice speakers). This actually works out well with the kids since I can play it and they don't have to hear it! I have been enjoying playing so much more than I did when I was younger. I look forward to sharing this with my children.

Oh, the piano is my Christmas gift from Peter and the kids. It's great to have it early!

Hannah - Week 11

Eating and Sleeping
I think Hannah had maybe not a growth spurt, but a need for more food around the middle of the week in order to increase my supply. Over the weekend she ate every 2 hours or so starting at her 1 p.m. feeding until she finally slept well at either her 7 pm or 10 pm feeding. She was also very awake those days as well. Monday I worked to get her back on her schedule (and also felt more 'full' when she would go the full three hours) and the magic happened Monday night. Due to supper plans and a hair appointment that evening, I fed Hannah at 4:30 p.m. (slightly later for her 4:00 feeding) and she ended up staying awake (we were not home) until I fed her again at 6:30 p.m. (before I went to my appointment). Peter put her to bed around 7:30 p.m. and she slept until 5:30 Tuesday morning! I couldn't believe it!

Yesterday, due again to supper plans, I fed her at 6:45 p.m. (early for her 7 p.m. feeding), then again at 8:30 p.m. And, again, she was awake between those feedings. I bathed her after the feeding at 8:30 and then put her down for the night. I had to wake her at 7 this morning to start the day. Talk about amazing!!

I had noticed in this post that her daughter had two feedings just 2 hours apart around supper time starting at 4 months old and that she didn't sleep between the two. I had always wondered how you went to three naps and kept 5 feedings before I saw that. I had already tucked that away in my mind to start moving toward in a few weeks. I only realized this morning that that is effectively what had happened by accident over the past few days. I'm currently reworking her schedule to look something like this:

7:00 a.m. - eat, awake, nap
10:30 a.m. - eat, awake, nap
2:00 p.m. - eat, awake, nap
5:00 p.m. - eat, awake
7:00 p.m. - eat, bath, then bed

She will get the same number of feedings in a day, just spaced a bit differently. She's quite young to go 12 hours without eating so I'm going to see what happens tonight and probably play with the schedule a bit so she's not eating her last feeding until 8 or 8:30 if she seems to need it. That might introduce an extra feeding but I'm ok with that.

Waketime
This week her wake times ranged between 60 and 70 minutes except on the weekend when she spent complete cycles awake. I think we will stick with that except keep her awake for those 2 hours in the early evening. She seems to be much more alert this week - I can see that magical 3-month mark approaching. She's also been a bit more flexible. For example, if we have to transition in the middle of her nap from car seat to crib (she doesn't sleep well in the car seat if she's not in the car moving) she'll occasionally go back to sleep. Previously I would always put her in the swing if that happened. I'm excited for her to be awake over the supper hour. She's almost steady enough to sit in our high chair (it reclines). Until she is, the bouncy seat is where she'll be.

Swaddling
Still swaddling. She still sleeps best when she is swaddled.

Milestones
Hannah came very close to rolling over (back to belly) this week. Her legs fetched her up, which I'm grateful for since she was on the couch. Oops! No more leaving her on the couch to fetch the nursing pillow!

Things from last week
We did well increasing her waketime and I think it was a good idea. She seems much happier going to bed after having a bit more time to play. We also were much more consistent with wake-up time in the morning. A few mornings were 7:30 (if she woke between 5 and 6) but that's within my 7 - 7:30 window.

Things for this week
This is Peter's last full week home before he leaves, so we're going to be on-the-go quite a bit to visit people. My goal for this week is to relax and also to try and figure out how to keep the 10 hours of sleep at night! We'll also see how she does with a full 2 hours of being awake.

10 hours!

So ... last night, as I mentioned in my previous post, we went to my brother's place for supper and then I headed to get my hair cut. I fed Hannah at 6:30 p.m. before we left my brother's house and Peter put her to bed when he got home around 7:30 p.m. She was still sleeping when I got home and I decided not to wake her before I went to bed, just to see what happened. She slept until 5:30 this morning!! I was so shocked. She usually wakes up around 6, so she almost slept until her usual wake-up time.

We had company for supper tonight so her schedule was a bit messed up. I fed her at 8:30 p.m. and then bathed her and put her to bed. I'm going to try not getting her up for her dreamfeed again and see what happens.

Busy, busy ...

This past weekend was lots of fun. On Saturday Peter took Nathan to see a Bob the Builder show. Needless to say that was a hit! Nathan napped a bit earlier and his nap was cut a bit short to accommodate the show, but it was definitely worth it. It was great for them to have this special time before Peter leaves.

Sunday we had a farewell party with the worship team at our church. Most of our close friends from church were there and it was really nice to have one last get together before we leave. I'll still be around until Peter comes back but it won't be quite the same. Here are some pictures from Sunday afternoon - Nathan had a blast on the four wheeler.

Today started off on a bad note. Mondays are usually my grocery days, so I got up this morning, got myself and the kids ready, and drove Peter to work. From there I went directly to the grocery store, only to be told it was closed, today only, for renovations! So frustrating. I went to another store in the city but it's not the same when I'm not shopping at my 'regular' place. It was nice to get a real grocery order, though. The past few weeks I've been winging it for meals which I find very stressful.

We went to my brother's house for supper. Yum! It was really nice to get to have dinner with he and his girlfriend, and very nice to not have to cook this evening! Peter's coworker and her husband are coming for supper tomorrow night that will be nice. The weather is supposed to be beautiful tomorrow so we'll enjoy a barbeque.

I also got my hair cut tonight ... and I love it! I've kept it quite long over the past 6 or 7 months and now that Hannah's here and my face has lost it's puffy look I decided it was time to chop it off. That, in addition to some highlights, makes for a great pick-me-up.