I hate 3:30 am!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

For Christmas, Ryan gave his mom and dad the best present in the entire world and universe combined…he started sleeping through the night and boy, was it a glorious occasion! Not having to wake up with him in the middle of the night was completely awesome, yet, over the last couple of days, the little man has gone back to his old routine of waking up at 3:30 am for a bottle! Let’s just say, mommy hasn’t really been all that happy about it! Nope, not one bit because now that I’m used to him sleeping through the night, getting up to feed him is extremely difficult.  

I mean, it’s really, really, really, really challenging to get up and feed him given that I enjoy being all warm and comfy in my bed and not wide awake giving him a bottle. Yet, it needs to be done, especially when he’s screaming bloody murder because he’s so hungry! The other night, he was actually screaming in his sleep he wanted food so bad. As soon as that bottle hit his lips, he was out like a light and went back to sleep. Then, like a half an hour later, he was back in his crib and I was back to bed, so, no big deal.

However, this 3:30 am wake up becomes a big deal when Ryan decides it’s time to stay up instead of going back to sleep. The little guy will drink his bottle and after eating it, he’ll want to sit up and play, smiling with that big old grin of his the entire time. He’s such a cutie when he plays, so, it’s not all that bad. :0) A few hours later, he’ll eventually crash and go back to sleep for a couple of hours, but by that time, I’m pretty much wide awake and have a hard time going back to sleep myself. Later in the day then, I’ll get super tired and end up taking a nap, which is not a routine that I want to get into. As I write this, I’m fighting off the urge to go and take a nap as I’m super tired. The thing is, I’ve found out that napping really isn’t all that it’s cracked up to be. The reason, I’m typically more tired after I take one. It’s a double edged sword, I guess, since I've learned that I’m going to be tired even if I get one in. Oh well. 

One of Ryan's weird sleeping episodes, it was 4:45 pm. He was completely out!

Anyway, I’m hoping that this 3:30 am feeding deal comes to a stop relatively quickly, particularly because it also results in a cranky Ryan. You can actually tell when he sleeps through the night and when he doesn’t. When he does sleep through the night, he’s super happy and content throughout the day. Basically, nothing bothers him and he just likes to play, eat, and have a good time. When he doesn’t, he’s just moody and always falling asleep at weird times, throwing his sleep schedule off too. So for his sake, it would be a good thing for him to get over. Fingers crossed that it happens sooner rather than later!  

Well, that’s about all I have for today due to the fact that I can barely keep my eyes open and I'm yawning like crazy. And yes, I’ve given in and decided to take a nap. I just can't resist the urge to be all comfy in my bed and forget about my troubles! Sweet dreams to all!

I wish there was a laundry fairy!

Ryan's clothes pile-up from yesterday!

I’ve always had a lot of laundry to do because I work out and that means each day, I accumulate not only the work clothes I wore that day, but the stinky workout clothes that I used as well. So, I’m used to doing a good amount of laundry. The thing is, now that I have a kid, the piles of laundry that I have to clean never seem to end and I wish I had a laundry fairy to help me out. I mean, it would be so awesome, so, so very awesome to go to bed at night and wake up to all of my laundry done, nicely folded and sitting atop my couch! That would be incredible! Simply INCREDIBLE! 

However, the laundry fairy has yet to make and appearance, leaving me with all sorts of wash to do. What’s been eye-opening about it all is how much laundry one little boy can produce. Yesterday alone, he went through two crib sheets, two sleepers, two outfits, two blankets, and one changing pad cover. It was insane since every time I cleaned him up or cleaned up his crib, he would get it dirty again! And no, he’s not super sick, just has a cough at the moment, but, the culprit is the fact that he’s teething and I’ve mentioned that before. So, he’s pooping a bunch and since he sticks his fingers in his mouth so much, he occasionally makes himself sick. It can get a little frustrating from time to time when he gets everything all dirty. What gets me through is his little smile though, when he flashes that grin, it makes it all worth it.

From all the laundry that I’m doing, I have come up with some laundry tips on how to save money and time. Here’s my list: 

• Coupons, coupons and more coupons – For example, the detergent I use when washing Ryan’s laundry is Dreft, which is really expensive. So, to make sure I don’t buy it at full price, I use coupons. Target has some good ones and there are some online too.
• Buying items on sale – When I do get detergent, Dreft or otherwise, I try to make sure it’s on sale. That also holds true with dryer sheets and pretty much anything else that I buy.
• Don’t go the name brand route – Generic and off brands typically work just as well as name brands and despite name brand laundry detergent makers saying otherwise, it’s true. What’s nice is they cost less and do the same thing as the name brands.
• Multi-task – This is the biggest time saver for me when I’m doing laundry. Like, after I throw a load of clothes in the dryer after taking out a load, I fold the one load and when I’m done with that, I get another load started. It may sound pretty simple, yet, it does save me a lot of time.
• Don’t let the laundry pile up – I learned this one the hard way when I decided to not do any laundry for a bit. I ended up doing laundry for an entire day and it was not fun. Now, I do a little laundry each day to keep on top of it!
  

This is what my grandma used to wash clothes!

In the end, laundry is a pain in the butt and when you have a kid, just realize, like I have, that it’s going to accumulate faster than ever. So fast that you might not be able to keep up with it and that not being able to keep up with it is probably going to make you fume a bit. Well, it has me anyway! :) And also realize, like I have, that laundry fairies don’t exist, they really, really don't! :) As much as I wish they did, they don’t, so I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing and keep plugging away, washing and folding clothes! 

At least, it’s not the 1950’s with the hand crank washing machines like my Grandma had to use. (Check it out on the right, she actually used a machine like it still when I was growing up!) Not to mention having to hang all the clothes outside, or indoors, to dry. Now that wouldn’t have been much fun and I applaud her for her hard work. Love you Grandma!

Thus, I’m going to stop complaining now and be thankful for the advancement of technology! So until next time, this is Carla the new mom, and tomboy, signing off!

Chomp, Chomp, Chewy Chomp!

I know, I know. I haven’t posted in quite some time, but with the holidays going on and life in general, things have been pretty busy. Now that the holidays are over, I have had a chance to slow down and look back on them. All in all, they were decent and one of the big highlights was…Ryan finally got his first tooth!

Actually, the little man got two teeth, the first came the day after Christmas and the second came on New Year’s Day, and I’m sure that more are on the way. Like I said in my past post about teething, it’s a bitch and the whole teething process is not very much fun for everyone involved, especially Ryan since he’s little body goes all nuts when it’s happening. There’s snot pouring from his nose, poop shooting out his butt, and then the pain that he has to deal with. I’ve never seen him stick his hands in his mouth as much as he has over the last few weeks and what’s worse than that is he just hasn’t been happy. Normally, he’s all smiley and giggly, yet with the teething going on, he’s been cranky and it’s tough to see.

We’ve tried to help him through it the best we can, giving him medicine to help ease the pain. Some of the things we’ve tried include teething tablets, teething gel, infant fever/pain reducer medicine, and when all else failed, we rubbed brandy on his gums. Yes, I realize the last one probably isn’t an approved method, however, it did help him and he was all chipper and happy afterwards! So, we’re going to use it again if nothing else seems to help.

The little man dealing with the teething process. Poor little guy!

Along with giving him medicine, we’ve also provided all sorts of things for him to chew on to help his teeth break through. He never really liked the teething ring we gave him, but he did enjoy chewing on all the toys on his exersaucer along with his little teddy bear, stuffed orange that laughs, and Dave’s finger. Out of all of the things that we let him chew on, his favorite was indeed Dave’s finger and he would start chewing on that at every given opportunity! :) Kind of funny, especially because the little guy can bite down pretty darn good, something I’ve experience myself while letting him bite on my finger. Can we say, ouch!!

The two teeth that he got over the last two weeks are right in front on the bottom and they aren’t quite showing yet enough for us to get a good picture of them. Plus, it doesn’t help that he loves to squirm when we have tried to take his picture! We’re waiting for some teeth to come in on top and when that happens, hopefully we can get a picture of him with a full on smile with his new chompers!

Well, that’s about all I got for today, I promise that I’m going to blog a bit more in the New Year. So, make sure to check back soon!