BREAK

I needed a break so I ran upstairs and decided to post. Who knows how long I have. Luke was content sitting with his daddy, and Ryan was on a time out for the 100th time in the last hour for repeatedly doing things we tell him not to. Go figure. I have cabin fever today due to the heat and Luke wanting to eat all day. I am sore, and seriously thinking that my nursing days are coming to a quick end. Don't get me wrong, I am SUPER proud of myself for lasting this long and I am hoping to make it to the 4 month milestone where Luke will probably be able to start solids. If this cuts back on the constant need for nursing then we'll be OK. But at 17 lbs and only 3.5 months, he eats a lot. I have no idea how this pediatrician feels about starting solids at 4 months instead of waiting til 6. My only fear is that without nursing there will be no way to comfort him when he goes into one of his scream sessions. But at the same time, I am hoping to start sleep training and the nursing to sleep is such a big no no. With Ryan we lived in 'survivor mode' for a year and I don't want that this time. Things need to start getting back on track schedule wise. We need to have the energy to send Ryan back to his room in the middle of the night, I need some time when I am not holding or feeding Luke, I need more than 3 hrs of consecutive sleep, I want to be able to make Ethan dinner and see that excited look on his face when he walks in the door and smells it (instead of the poor guy having to eat cereal).

I keep thinking of things to blog but never make it up to the computer. A few months ago Ryan drank 3 Ensure shakes. He snuck into the pantry and got them. Not even sure how he opened them. Random things were happening related to the pantry that particular day, like Ethan telling me when he left for work that Ryan kept hiding in the pantry...fast forward to the end of the day when I saw him in there (me craning my neck to look over the couch while nursing and sent Ethan to investigate) and we found 3 empty cans! Ryan's reply: i love these, they are da-yishous. We decided the pantry needed to be locked and I moved all of Ryan's snack to a cabinet. Then I realized we have lever doors and spent $12 on the only lock that works for lever doors for it NOT to work. So, we bought a new handle but haven't installed it yet cuz we are cool like that. We did move the Ensures to the top shelf, only for me to find Ryan in there with a chair.

Let's see...oh, the vacation. As I had thought, Ethan and Ryan had a great time. I did a lot of sitting with Luke. Luke and I had to stay in the car at the beach where the seals were with their babies because it was too windy. Then at the river we sat under an umbrella. I got absolutely no sun. At the pool I sat in the shade, never got in the water. While some of the adults played games and stayed up I went to our room and nursed Luke watched TV. Ethan did a great job of taking care of Ryan but with the amount of people in our condo the noise was outrageous and it was overwhelming. Plus, Ryan feeds off of his older cousins and had some attitude that I did not enjoy. Luke had been doing 5-6 hr stretches when we left, and then switched back to 2-3..not a fan.

We moved Luke to his crib when we got back. It was just too much. After 3 months of sleeping with us, and doing 2 nights in a king size bed with the 4 of us it was time to have some space. The video monitor has helped ease my fears. I still have no idea why this time it freaks me out to have him in his own room (which is super cute by the way--I should post some pics).

Ryan did 2 weeks of swim lessons and though he cried the first day, he was fine the rest. On the last day he jumped off the diving board! TWICE. I was stunned. He really took to his teacher, and when he had a sub 2 days he was not happy at all. He waited to jump til his teacher came back. I am hoping we get him again because we start again tomorrow. He also has soccer once a week and loves it. My sister got him shin guards and real cleats and he looks adorable.

I just noticed its 8 and Ryan hasn't even showered yet so I need to go downstairs and get the bath/bed process started.