August

It's been awhile. There has been so much I intended to chronicle on here but I keep getting distracted or pulled away from the computer before I can get a post written!

So, in one post I'll hopefully be able to summarize most of the past month. Haha...this should be fun!

Well, the month started off with us moving to a new place across town. We were SO ready to get out of our old place. There was just no room for Elliot and we couldn't stand one of our neighbors. Where we are now seems to suit us MUCH better. We are with a lot of college kids so they keep different hours than us but it really has been pretty quiet around here. There's an apartment of guys above us who seem to enjoy wrestling or something. Usually I just chuckle and wait for it stop. One morning I did have to go upstairs & get one of them to come down and get their cat who jumped off the balcony & after coming in my apartment hid so that I couldn't find it.

This pregnancy has continued to progress without much excitement which is actually quite exciting to me. At my last appointment Dr. Mintzer declared me "boring" which is a very good thing. Dr. Drake also has me coming monthly now for ultrasounds instead of every two weeks. Cupcake has looked awesome on the ultrasound everytime so that is another huge relief. However, I'm getting to the point of being ready for her to be here. She is sitting so low & I am in pain a good deal of the time. It doesn't help that I'm working on unpacking a new home and hauling a toddler around for a good part of the day. I try to take it as easy as I can but some days I probably do way too much.

My Petey & I celebrated our second anniversary this month. It's hard to believe that we've been married for TWO years already. It can't possibly have gone this fast could it?!?!?! I'm still working on finishing my scrapbook although it is getting closer to being done. It's crazy to think of all that we've gone through and accomplished in this short amount of time. We took advantage of Elliot's obsession of being with his grandparents and at the farm to get away for a few days. We headed to Minneapolis where we had scored an amazing deal at the Marquette Hotel in downtown. We went to a Twins game, spent some time back in our stomping grounds, played at Dave & Buster's & got to see one of our good friends we went to NWC with. Before we came home we hit Ikea & scored a great deal on a new desk for Petey. On a whim we checked out the as-is section & found the desk we wanted for half price!! It was a shade darker than the one we were going to get but it was a sacrifice we were willing to make! Unfortunately it didn't fit in the car so we had to strap it to the top. LOL - that was an adventure but it worked and it's set up & works great for Petey now.

Elliot has been growing up too fast! He looks and acts like a little boy now instead of a baby & it makes me so sad. I miss my little chubby man with the huge cheeks!! :) He is so much fun now and I love seeing him discover things and learning how the world works. He LOVES to play peek-a-boo & each time he picks up his Lego lid we spend several minutes playing this game. It's awesome! He also really loves my hairbrush so we "brush" his hair several times a day. I'm pretty sure he just likes to have his head massaged (like his momma!) because it usually calms him down when he gets really worked up. He's also a much more cuddly little guy than he used to be. Just this month he's really started to cuddle & actually initiate the cuddle. I don't feel like I need to pin him down for a hug or some kisses since most of the time he really wants to sit on my lap. Today he was pretty worn out & sleepy so I took advantage and snuggled with him on the couch for a looooooong time. It was fantastic even though there were several other things I had hoped to accomplish but there's always tomorrow for all of that.

Petey and I made a very hard decision in regards to Elliot's sleep habits. Since he is going to have a little sister in about 2 months or less (YIKES!) we are both in agreement that he needs to learn how to sleep. Specifically he needs to learn how to put himself BACK to sleep. We have a good routine for bedtime & he is usually very ready to go to sleep so that isn't a problem & naptimes usually aren't either. Sometimes he protests naps but he knows it's time to sleep &, again, he's almost always in great need of a nap. We know he can make it all night without having to eat but that he relies on that bottle to fall back to sleep. We have tried SO many different ideas and methods and none of it has worked so I've had to bite my tongue and do something I swore we'd never resort to - crying it out. I hate it and so does Petey but it's for the best and I have to think of it as giving him a skill he needs instead of being a mean parent. Last night was the first night & it took him an hour to fall back to sleep the first time. It was an excruciatingly LONG hour & I cried just as much as he did I think. It was AWFUL to listen to him & to think that he was waiting for me to come just broke my heart. We ended up getting out of bed & tried to keep ourselves busy until about 1a.m. when he went back to sleep. The second time he woke up only took about 20-25 minutes which was nothing in comparison to the first time. We're giving him 3-5 days & hoping that it is clear to us whether or not we should keep going or stop and attempt to find another alternative.....we definitely need some prayers for this. Fortunately this morning he was quite happy to see us so he must not be holding it against us & he seemed much happier so hopefully getting him some more sleep at night will do some good stuff!

Another change around here is our switch to cloth diapers. We haven't gone to them 100% of the time & odds are we'll be sticking to disposables at night for awhile since Elliot is a HUGE wetter at night. We're using one size diapers with pockets so that we can control how absorbent they are. The first day or so we had some leaks but that was due to user error I'm pretty sure! We're still learning and experimenting but so far things have gone well and I'm quickly becoming a cloth diaper addict! I haven't tried my luck at prefolds yet but I ordered a cover Sunday so we'll see how it goes! Those would be the cheapest option but even if we spend more money on the pocket diapers we'll still be money ahead in the long run which is an awesome feeling. Both kids should be able to wear these diapers plus any other kids we have in the future. There are so many adorable patterns that I could easily go broke stocking up.....I have to be careful when I'm online shopping ;)