the solemnest place on earth

My almost 1 year old had his 1st (very quick) trip to Disneyland's California Adventure yesterday, and he was unimpressed. I'm sure (well, actually I'm not sure... but I hope!) he was happy on the inside, but the boy barely cracked a smile the whole time we were there. He's still so young and shy around strangers so I didn't know what to expect, but it was pretty funny to watch him stay completely solemn as he visited the characters and went on a couple rides.

I was lucky enough to get into the park for free (thanks to an awesome Disney connection of one of my friends), so it was a fun experience for us to spend a couple hours of Valentine's Day at the park. However, I don't think we'll go back for a while to spend $137/person until Kyle is a little bit older and might actually have some fun. Next time, we'll hit up the main park first because I think there's lots more baby-friendly activities over there; at California Adventure we were limited to the carousel and Ariel's Undersea Adventure - which he actually seemed to enjoy, even during the "scary" Ursula part! 

this picture kills me. such a big boy!!!

then vs. now {jelly edition}

Pre-baby:

Drop a jar of jelly on the kitchen floor, shout a profanity or 2, take 3 minutes to clean it up, move on with your life and hope you don't step on a tiny piece of glass 2 months from now when you stumble into the kitchen to get a glass of water in the middle of the night.

Post-baby:

Drop a jar of jelly on the kitchen floor, have 2 minutes to frantically clean while baby eats a banana in his high chair, keep baby out of the kitchen until nap time, spend 30 minutes sweeping, mopping, sweeping, shuffling your feet looking for glass, searching under the cabinets and rug, sweeping, whispering a profanity or 8, mopping, whispering more profanities, praying that baby doesn't find a tiny piece of glass in the next year as he crawls around and walks on tiny, delicate bare feet. Sweep some more. Think of tiny baby feet with broken glass in them. Mop again.

I HATE YOU

vroom

Kyle is officially turning into a little boy. He knows how to blow his nose (seriously blow it, not just make the fake sound), and he "vrooms" his cars as he plays with them all over the house. And I am officially turning into a sap mom, because both of these things make my heart swell. Who knew nose blowing could be so cute?

love

I couldn't think of any better title for this post. LOVE is the only word that describes the night we had last night. After dinner, Kyle was sitting in his high chair and Brian and I were goofing around with him while we got his bath ready. We were having so. much. fun. We put on some kid songs and sang and danced around, which made him laugh so hard! He was loving the music, and watching mom and dad act like total dorks. He was snapping his fingers with us and clapping his hands. He laughed with us during his entire bath and we had a long tickle sesh afterwards.

I love nights like this, when there is so much joy in the house and everyone is just having a blast being home and doing the normal routine, enjoying each other's company. Family time at its best!

8 hours

It feels like a million years since I've gotten 8 straight hours of sleep. Up until this week, I haven't even given it a second thought; it was just normal to me to wake up once a night to nurse Kyle and then back to sleep for a few hours. The routine was working for us, and I didn't feel a need to disrupt our lives and make any drastic changes.

But last week Kyle had croup (our scariest night to date), and was having a hard time breathing. Thankfully he's much better now, but his sleep has not recovered. For a full week he's been up multiple times every night, and the only thing that will soothe him is to nurse. He knows what he wants, and doesn't stop until he gets it.

I know that this routine can't continue. It's taking a toll on all of us - especially me. I'm exhausted and starting to get frustrated that my baby doesn't remember how to sleep 8 straight hours... something that came so easy to him just 8 days ago. I know that at 1 year old he should be able to sleep through the night, and that we're going to have to make some changes to get him there.

We've done it before and know we can do it again, but the thought of what's to come is upsetting and scary. Sleep training is no fun, and I'm not looking forward to any part of it. But I want my baby to be happy and get good rest, so it looks like some tears are inevitable.

As I sit here while Kyle naps in his crib for 2+ hours,  I'm trying to remember what it was like before I could get him to sleep in his own bed. I would rock him or nurse him to sleep, and sometimes have to sit there and hold him for an hour or more so he could get a nap in. If I was lucky, I'd be able to gently lay him down in the swing and he'd sleep in there for a little bit. Once I bit the bullet and let him cry in his crib, it didn't take long before he learned to make himself comfortable and take good naps in there.

I remember once that was done (when he was around 5 months old), I thought: WHY DIDN'T I DO THIS SOONER? The luxury of having a baby sound asleep in his crib for hours was amazing and he was getting the rest he needed. I'm hoping and praying that the sleep training we're about to endure goes as smoothly, and that in a week my next post will be titled: Sleeping Through the Night: WHY DIDN'T I DO THIS SOONER?

Wish me luck, because so far I'm not handling this very well.