Spring is on its way

We are finally seeing some signs that spring is on its way. Besides the horrific daylight saving causing us to lose an hour, that is. We've got flowers starting to peek up out of the ground, temperatures above freezing, muddy paw prints on the hardwood floors - all signs that spring is just around the corner, at long last!

We took our first family walk last week and it was a great experience. Hopefully there will be many more to follow.





And Tim and Payton even made a new friend - a golden retriever puppy down the street. In their eagerness to play, someone got a little tied up...






Barrett basking in the sunshine and waving goodbye to winter (or possibly playing the air guitar, was Tim's thought).

A new family member!

We are thrilled that we have a new family member!

My sister Jennifer and Ryan had a new baby. Caroline Ruth is exactly eight weeks younger than Barrett, so it'll be lots of fun to have a cousin so close in age. We haven't gotten a chance to meet her yet, but they sent some pictures of the little girl. She looks like a mix of her parents. We're hoping to plan a trip down to Indianapolis to visit them in the next month or so. From what we know of her, she has quite a set of lungs, which she'll probably need to be heard with two rambunctious older brothers!

Sleep deprivation torture

Some people look at their babies and predict they'll be doctors, or teachers or ballerinas. Last night I looked down at my son around 5:30am and realized what his calling is going to be in life - a professional military torturer. And oh yeah, he's getting his start on physical and psychological torture on me. His weapon of choice - sleep deprivation.

So yesterday was a tough day with him. He refused to nap and was up.all.day. He took a quick 45 minute nap early afternoon and that was pretty much it until bedtime. Looking back, I realize he was spending this time plotting his attack.

8pm rolls around and he keeps falling asleep every time I try to feed him. Finally we put him to bed.

10pm - normally I "top him off" with one last feeding before I go to bed. He refuses to wake up. So we put him back to bed and cross our fingers for the night ahead. And the fun begins...

1:20am - "waah!" Barrett is awake so I stumble into his room to feed him
1:21am - he begins to eat
1:24am - and he falls asleep
1:25:01 - I tickle the back of his neck and he wakes up and resumes eating
1:25:04 - and he falls asleep
this pattern continues for the next 10 minutes or so. I try everything - tickling his neck, opening his sleeper to tickle his legs and feet, bringing him up to my shoulder, jostling him - the boy refuses to wake up and eat.
1:35am - I change his diaper. He wakes up and cries. He wanted to let me know how much it sucks to be woken up in the middle of the night when you're fast asleep. Believe it or not, I was already aware of this fact.
1:37am - diaper change over, resume feeding
1:38am - and he falls asleep

Finally I go back to bed around 2am and manage to fall asleep maybe around 2:40am.

5:10am - "waah!" Barrett is awake again.
5:11am - he begins eating
5:13am - and he falls asleep
Repeat above again.
5:53am - I go back to bed and finally fall asleep around 6:15am.

7:57am - "waah!"

Needless to say, Momma is extremely tired today! This sleep deprivation torture is not much fun, but Barrett is extremely good at it, thanks to all his practice the last few days!

Poor Puppy

Once upon a time there was a little doggy prince that lived a glorious life. He lived with a family in the kingdom of Chicagoland that worshiped the ground he pooped on. He slept every night on a pedestal bed, cuddled in between his mommy and daddy. Every day, they rushed home from work to see him and play with him. His days and nights were filled with quiet, peaceful sleep and his evenings were filled with hours of playtime, pettings, catch, tug-of-war, and walks. He got more attention than he knew what to do with! Life was grand and the little puppy prince couldn't be happier. His furry tail just wagged and wagged all day in happiness.

But one day, a terrible cloud came over the kingdom and it was invaded! This enemy devastated the entire land. Suddenly torturous cries filled the kingdom skies! No longer were there peaceful naps on mommy's lap, her lap was taken over by the dreaded enemy, if she sat down at all. The wide open landscape that was the puppy prince's playground was filled with swings, carseats, bouncer seats and playmats. Tempting fuzzy, noisemaking toys laid around the kingdom, but the puppy prince seemed to get in trouble every time he tried to play with these toys! Visitors came to the land, but they only wanted to see the enemy, the puppy prince had to beg for attention!

Poor, poor puppy prince. One day you will be happy with this invader, when he makes food fall from the skies.

And I'm one year older

I had a great birthday and celebrated with my three favorite boys. The day started off with a wonderful 8 hours of sleep. Hooray! It was absolute heaven, even if it was divided up into 5 + 2 +1. Tim got us bagels and Starbucks. I'm thoroughly addicted to white chocolate peppermint mochas from Starbucks. YUM. I wish I could have one every day. But, sadly, at 600+ calories each (even for the skim!), I can't really justify them now that I'm not pregnant anymore. A nice birthday treat though!

Jen came by and finally saw Barrett awake and alert! Last time he napped through her entire visit.





And we ordered dinner in, had birthday cake and, after a year of abstaining, I finally got a delicious and bubbly glass (or two) of champagne! Mmmmmm!!! It tasted just as good as I remembered. Why don't I end every day with a piece of cake and glass of champagne?











The cake sure seemed a lot brighter than I expected! And there was definitely A LOT of smoke after I blew out the candles, enough to make me a little nervous about the fire alarm going off! But no fire trucks had to be called and I had a wonderful birthday. Thanks to all for birthday wishes!

Ins-mom-nia

Since he was born, Barrett has been sleeping in our room. While it's convenient to have him so close for the late night feedings, it's not doing anyone any favors to keep him in there with us. So starting on Friday night, he slept in his crib like a big-boy baby! I was a little nervous about how the transition would be, but it was a piece of cake. We are lucky to have such a good sleeper!

We've reached a plateau with his sleeping. He is up anywhere from 4:30-5:30am and then again around 8. And, since day one, when he gets up at night, he eats and goes right back down to sleep. Perfect, right?

Not so much for Mom.

Once I'm up at 4:30 or so and the feeding is over and I snuggle back into my own bed under the covers, it's not exactly off to dreamland for me. All three boys are fast asleep and I toss and turn for at least another hour. It is getting very frustrating for me, to waste so much sleep at night! I'm dreading going back to work on such little sleep. Here's hoping that either Barrett starts sleeping longer shifts or I find a quicker way to get back to sleep soon!

More bathtime pics

Just because I think they're soo cute, here's some more bathtime pictures!