Christmas Ornanments

If you remember last year, Parker ruined the Christmas ornament that he gave me in 2009 that said,"Merry Christmas mom and dad, love popper" I was devastated!! (mostly because I was extremely pregnant and hormonal) He still feels bad about it and when we were putting ornaments on the tree this year he brought it up and said how sorry he was for erasing the message. I'm still sad about it, but I know it was an accident and at least I wrote about it so it will never be forgotten. Well this year, my mom helped the kids, Paige and Parker, make new ones for me. My mom had watched the kids for me for a little while one evening and when I came back they had s surprise for me. I opened the presents and they had each recorded a message on an ornament for me. Paige's said, "I do love Christmas and presents, and I do love mom and dad!!" it was so sweet!! I love that it said that because that is how she has been talking lately and I always want to remember it. Parker's said, "Merry Christmas. I love you mom and dad." It was sweet as well. I was very excited about getting them and gave the kids strict rules on listening to them. I put them up high on the tree so no kids could reach them and have very carefully played them back. I am very sentimental and these ornaments melted my heart. I can't wait to listen to them next year when the kids have grown up and to hear how they have changed.

Paxten Sleeping

I am kind of embarrassed to admit this, but Paxten has been sleeping in my bed since he was born. I didn't intend for it to happen, but it slowly became the routine. He hasn't been a very good sleeper from the beginning. I tried over and over to put him in his crib, or the pack and play, but as soon as I would lay him down, he would wake up and be fussy. So it just became easier, especially at 2 in the morning, to have him lay right next to me. It was very convenient in the middle of the night to roll over and feed him and get him right back to sleep. Well I haven't had a good night sleep since before he was born and he still wasn't sleeping through the night at 10.5 months!!! Something had to change, I knew he was using me more as a pacifier, but it was hard to get out of the habit, and trying to do it by myself was hard too! So this week, since Parker is out of school, we have moved him temporarily into Paige's room so that we can put Paxten in the crib and his crying won't wake Parker. The first night I put him in the crib he cried for over an hour. I couldn't believe that he would cry that long and not wear himself out enought to fall asleep. But he finally did and he slept from about 10 pm until 9 am!!! Holy cow!! I could hardly believe it. I slept better, althought I kept waking up making sure he wasn't crying so I didn't sleep the greatest, but it was better to not have him in my bed. He did cry so hard that he threw up and I had to wash all the bedding in the morning. The next night he cried for 30 minutes and fell asleep at about 9:30 and slept until 4:30. Still pretty good in my book, at least it wasn't every 2 hours!!! Last night was the 3rd night and he only cried for about 15 minutes and slept from 10:30 untl about 9:00 this morning. It is so great! He woke up happy and so excited to see me. I love opening the bedroom door and seeing his smiling face. So hopefully this is the starte of a new routine and he will continue to sleep well. We are hoping that by the time Parker goes back to school next week, the routine will be established and he can have his bed back. After doing this and getting more sleep, I wondered "why did I wait so long to do this?" I don't know!!! Wish us luck!