Poor Baby.

Kroten Got his first Sunburn this weekend. I felt so bad. I dont know how he got it because we lathered him up with sunscreen. We must have missed his little nose. But he sure looked cute. I still feel bad though. Great Grandmas comment was, at least he is getting his vitamin D. I am glad I am doing something right! ;)

Best Friends

I cant wait to move back to Oregon, because we have a built in best friend for Kroten. Xander (Kroten's cousin) is 4 months older than Kroten. It is funny because even thought they will be in the same grade and the same physical level when they are older, Xander is way bigger and way ahead of Kroten. I cannot wait to watch them grow up together.

OK, Ok Ill do it.

I've seen this on several blogs so I finally decided to give in. I am surprised how fast things like this circulate. It is crazy to see it posted on two peoples blogs that you know have no connection to each-other.

Directions: Leave a comment on my blog about a memory of you and I together (Kristen, jared or even Kroten). It doesn't matter if you knew me a little or a lot, just whatever you remember! Then repost this on your blog to see who leaves comments for you!

Houdini

This is how we found Kroten this morning. Some how he kicks his way out of the swaddle. He can't get his arms out, but his feet have no problem finding their way to the light. The best part is that when he is awake he can do this in ten minutes flat. I am thinking of entering him into a magic show. For a while we thought that because he got out of the swaddle that he didn't like it, so we stopped for a while. That was a mistake. Since we started swaddling him again, it has been nothing short of wonderful.

We did it.

"Crying it out," however hard, has paid off. I will be honest, it was excruciating letting my poor little man scream his head off in the crib while I turn the volume on a movie up as loud as I can. I swear I could hear him saying Mommy, please come get me. But it was all worth it. He hasn't cried at all the last two days when we put him in the crib, he just falls asleep, and, wait for it, sleeps for 7 hours. Apparently the definition of sleeping through the night is sleeping 6 or more hours. SO WE MADE IT... we are sleeping through the night. Sure its not 12 hours nor is it even the recommended adult 8 hours, but we are making progress. I am still praying hard that the progress continues. I would even be happy if it stays the way it is.

Sleep Update # 2

After a week of fighting, the swing batteries dying, and worrying about the babies neck, we knew we had to try something to get him in the crib. We had been planning on trying the cry it out method, but it just seemed to early. Because we were desperate, we tried it.

Because I know you all liked it, I will do an minute by minute play by play again.

4:00 pm - I bought a womb sounds bear, I heard these things work wonders. (I kept it in the box incase it didn't work.)
8:00 - Bath time.
8:30 - fed Kroten dinner.
9:00 - bed time in the crib.
9 - 10 - Kroten cried.
10:00 - Silence . . .
10:05 - I checked on him, and unfortunately he was not asleep, just playing and kicking away.
10:15 - I felt bad, but at the advice of my husband and mother, I left him in there.
I am not sure if he actually slept anytime in here, but I am assuming he did.
11:00 - Starts crying again, but I am not going to feed him till 11:30. so I let him cry it out again.
11:20 - I fell asleep. I am not sure if Kroten did the same, but I didn't hear him.
12:00 - Kroten is awake and hungry, so I fed him.
12:45 - Kroten done eating and asleep.
12:47 - in his crib with the bear, Kinda fussing.
12:55 - Silence, I am assuming this time that he is asleep.
5:00 - Awake and hungry. WOOHOO... 5 hours in the crib, it is a miracle.
5:45 - Back to sleep in crib with the bear.
8:00 - Awake for the day.

Don't get to excited, it was only one night. I am praying that it works again tonight.

I cant take all the credit. I would like to say I am amazing, but I must add this disclaimer: I was praying all night that this would work. Any miracle that happened was all the Lord. Pray that it works again.

Sleep update.

So I am almost ashamed to admit that i gave in. We waited so long, we thought that if we tried night after night that we might be able to break in the crib. But know you this, it was out of pure desperation and lack of beauty sleep that we caved in to the powers of the swing. It worked, I knew it would, I was just hoping that we wouldn't have to use this tactic. Here is how the night went.

8:00- Kroten wants to sleep, but we give it our all to keep him awake.
9:00- Kroten is not happy.
10:00 - "ok ok, you can eat and go to bed now."
10:30- Kroten is wide awake in his crib.
This is truly ironic because half an hour ago, Kroten was falling asleep in a sitting up position. I dont know why, but for some reason he does not like the crib.
10:55- I turn to Jared and ask if he wants to try the swing.
10:55 and 10 seconds - Jared has Kroten out of the crib and ready for the swing.
11:00- Kroten is asleep in the swing.
3:00- Kroten is hungry and Awake.
4:00- Kroten back to sleep in swing.
7:30- Kroten awake and hungry again.

Just incase you dont feel like adding, that is 8 1/2 hours of sleep. I am feeling pretty good today.

As you can see, last night was a lot smoother than the past few nights. I hate to say it, but we just might be using the swing a little more often.

Why did we decide to have children?

I know all of you who have kids has asked yourself this question at least once, right?? Good, so I dont feel so guilty asking myself this question. I am sure that some of the people whom I respect most have been overly frustrated with their beautiful children, so I dont feel bad saying that I don't think I can do this anymore!!! Let me tell you why I ask these ridiculous questions and harbor these insane feelings. The story goes something like this...

7:30 pm - We usually try to wake kroten up around this time so that he is sleepy and ready for bed around 9 or 10. Last night, however, the little man was so tired that he was having a hard time waking up, he would just cry and fall back asleep in what ever position you put him in. So we decided to let him sleep. STUPID IDEA!

9:30 - Kroten got hungry. So i fed him. He was then awake. You must understand that it is now bed time for Jared and I.

10:30- during the movie Hook, kroten dozed to sleep, so in my excitement, I thought he was ready for bed. To his crib he went.

10:40- Screaming baby halts the progress I was making in going to sleep.

11:00- There is nothing on TV past 10 incase you are wondering.

11:30- Kroten starts to sleep. to his crib he goes.

11:40- Kroten wakes up.

11:45- Kroten dozes again.

11:46- in his crib, he starts to whine.

11:50- Kroten is hungry. (this is where I start to get frustrated)

11:58- kroten falls asleep. now I know he didn't eat a full meal, but I was hoping that he just wanted a snack and that he was really going to sleep. -HAHA- you have to learn from your mistakes right?

12:00 am- I go to bed AGAIN!!!

12:05- Kroten is now crying.

12:06- this is the point where I am asking myself the question at the beginning, and Jared who has to get up at 5:30 is now getting up to get the baby.

12:07- Kroten falls asleep and Jared puts him in his crib.

Now this event opened a new can of worms for my already emotional state. Now it goes from "WHY??" to "I am so inadequate. I am a bad mom. How on earth did you get him to fall asleep so fast?"

12:08- Jared, who is falling asleep, is trying to comfort me.

12:20 - You guessed it... Kroten is awake and crying.

12:21- I am crying

12:30- Jared suggest we feed him, and I say quite angrily "I just fed him."

12:31- Jared, Kroten and I sit in silence while Kroten again falls asleep and Jared and I get mader and mader that we can't fall asleep and that I am being so emotional.

12:35 - I am now telling my Heavenly Father that I dont think I can do this anymore.

12:40- Jared tells me to just take a deep breath. HA now this is an interesting twist to the story, and I hope some body in the world can relate. When Jared says this, he has the best intentions of helping me cope... when Jared says this, the little beast inside of me is screaming, "TAKE A BREATH? ....TAKE A BREATH? Why dont you shove your foot..." You get the idea.

12:45- we again try, unsuccessfully, to go to bed.

12:46-I am crying to jared about how I don't think I can do it, and how I want to drop kick the baby across the street.

12:47- Jared trying to stay calm and understanding tells me that it is ok.

12:47:35-I start to feel better.

12:50- Kroten's crying, again. I convince myself that maybe the baby is really hungry,and proceed to feed him.

12:55- Yep... Kroten is a sleep.

12:56- Remember that starting to feel better thing? It's gone.

12:57- Not making the mistake I made earlier, Jared wakes the baby up and we feed him some more.

1:00 - asleep again.

1:02- Diaper change.

1:05- Jared takes Kroten outside with a bottle to keep him awake for a full feeding.

1:15 - Kroten Burps, finally (that is a story for another time.)

1:30- Jared gets the watermelon out of the fridge for a snack.

1:35 - Kroten is finally finishing the bottle.

1:38- We think he is done eating, and he is asleep.

1:40- To the crib for what we hope is the very last time.

1:45- Jared is once again comforting me to the sound of silence over the baby monitor.

1:47- we both lie awake patiently waiting for some noise to come from the monitor.

1:50-At this time I came to a realization. Instead of saying that I couldn't do this anymore, I told my Heavenly Father that I don't think I can do this alone. I was pleading with him that Kroten be finally asleep.

1:52- I am begging for Jared's forgiveness and telling him while convincing myself that I am going to try harder to be more patient and do better at the things that are bugging me.

2:00- Jared asks what time it is, and I tell him it is 2.

I dont remember anything after this. I am hoping that is was all over, but I might have just slept through what ever happened next.

6:00- Jared wakes me up and tell me that he has to go to work now.

Okay so there are several morals to this story.

1. Don't let Kroten sleep after 7.
2. Never let them get away with a half feeding.
3. Wait to have kids until you are really really ready to give up everything you hold dear. Time with your husband, sleep, your sanity, your emotional stability, your pants etc. (not that I was not ready, but can you imagine if I had been any less ready?)
4. I know this is an underlying theme of the story, but Jared really is wonderful. I don't know how he does it, but he is so patient and so loving. He literally was dealing with two babies last night, and then he got up for work 3 hours later, what a man. I love him. Oh and he made dinner last night too. HE IS AMAZING!!
5. I can't do this alone. No one can. I imagine that Heavenly Father was chuckling while watching this story unfold with a bag of pop corn like it was a movie. He was just sitting there waiting for me to realize that I am not super mom, and that I need both my husbands and his comfort and help.

This is hard stuff. I honestly don't understand, after 9 months of sickness, pain, not being able to move and expanding waist lines, why don't they give us something easy?

happy 14th baby sis

Happy Birthday to a CrAzY girl.

http://karlynhurst.blogspot.com

Messa Falls

We took Kroten for his first hike yesterday. It was way fun. We like going to Messa Falls because it is probably the only place within 50 miles of Rexburg that reminds me of Oregon, and we all know the withdrawals I am going through. Kroten slept the entire walk, but I am going to convince myself that he enjoyed the waterfall. Our kids will love the outdoors even if it means we have to make them enjoy it. ;)
This picture scared me, I really thought Jared was going to drop the baby over the cliff.
Family photo op at the Falls. (Wow, I need to loose 50 lbs. Any one got a magic wand?)
Jared was afraid the whole time that Kroten was going to get sunburnt, so he protected him, With his Detroit Tigers hat of course. It was really cute.
Daddy and Son catching up on some Messa Falls history.
Besides how cute the boys are... isn't the falls so pretty?

Happy independence.

Fourth of July was great. It was pretty simple. Jared spent $25 on "illegal" fireworks at an indian reservation. I honestly don't know why they are illegal, and I really can't tell you why Jared spent money on them. The name bottle rocket sounds so much cooler than the actual event really is. These things spark a little and shoot about 50 feet in the air. that is it. No explosion or anything. WOOHOO, I guess I am not as excited, because I am not of the male species. I will never understand. This picture is of Jared lighting one of his "fireworks."

Then we went to idaho falls and sat by the river across from the temple for 6 hours waiting for the fireworks to start. Jared was bored, but i really enjoyed relaxing by the river and not having to worry about anything. I had fun. Jared's brother Jamison came to visit, and played with Kroten while we sat and relaxed by the river.
Jamison held Kroten for the whole fireworks show. we all thought Kroten would either sleep through the whole thing or cry through it. Turns out he did neither. He was wide awake the whole time, and I think he was really watching some of it. Jamison made sure to cover his ears when the loud booms were coming.

SMILES!!!

There are few things that compare to seeing your baby smile at you for the first time. It is exciting because it is not only the first smile, but the first time you know they recognize you, the first sign of normal social interaction, and a sign of development. It pretty much melted my heart to see, and I have spent three or four days cooing and fart kissing with the camera in my hand. It is hard work to 1. get him to smile, and 2. catch it with the camera. But my hard work paid off, and I know this picture will melt your heart too.