I am at my parents house in Havertown, Pennsylvania. Making cookies, finishing up some last minute shopping, wrapping presents, going on long walks with the dogs: all of these things fill my days. I didn't feel the Christmas spirit until I walked through the door of my parents house. Now it is all around. I won't be blogging for a week or so as we travel to visit family across the state.
Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and a wonderful blessed time with family and friends.
23 December 2008
17 December 2008
Open the Gates and Seize the Day
It is almost 6am and Ian is still sleeping. This is amazing. I put him to bed at 9am. That is almost 9 hours. Amazing! I, on the other hand cannot go more than 6 hours without eating and therefore was up at 4:30am wide awake.
There are several reasons why Ian may have finally slept through the night:
1) The copious amounts of rice cereal my mom fed him over the last day and a half have formed a ball in his stomach that will sustain him for the next year.
2) The diaper thing Stephanie suggested actually works
3) Zack and Jean's stellar parenting skills and overall happy baby aura rubbed off on Ian while Zack was holding him for 20 minutes at Bobby Vans last night while I drank a Guinness
4) The Guinness
Whatever the reason, cause, or miracle I will be celebrating in the following ways:
1) Finishing off the pumpkin crisp my mom left in the fridge
2) Going onto Amazon and ordering a new book to read with all my new free time
2) A bottle of wine this evening
3) Going back to bed
There are several reasons why Ian may have finally slept through the night:
1) The copious amounts of rice cereal my mom fed him over the last day and a half have formed a ball in his stomach that will sustain him for the next year.
2) The diaper thing Stephanie suggested actually works
3) Zack and Jean's stellar parenting skills and overall happy baby aura rubbed off on Ian while Zack was holding him for 20 minutes at Bobby Vans last night while I drank a Guinness
4) The Guinness
Whatever the reason, cause, or miracle I will be celebrating in the following ways:
1) Finishing off the pumpkin crisp my mom left in the fridge
2) Going onto Amazon and ordering a new book to read with all my new free time
2) A bottle of wine this evening
3) Going back to bed
10 December 2008
Someone is NOT happy
Ian just found out that Obama really did win, and that in a little over a month our neighborhood is going to be overrun with inauguration festivities.
What? That was real?
How could you keep this from me for so long?
What is going to happen to us Daddy?
I'm scared. Hillary for State, really?
I don't know much about politics but this is not change.
What? That was real?
How could you keep this from me for so long?
What is going to happen to us Daddy?
I'm scared. Hillary for State, really?
I don't know much about politics but this is not change.
09 December 2008
Two Comments
1. I walked Ian and Pippin down to the Hart Senate building yesterday to deposit a check. Love the Federal Credit Union! Although I had Ian all dressed up in his Wok outfit I got no less than fifteen comments about Pippin. That is right. I was holding an adorable 5 month old boy and not one person commented on Ian. Pippin however was a hit. Someone even stopped their cell conversation to exclaim, "That is an adorable dog."
This is good. Pippin and I have been having some issues lately so I really needed this. I had been contemplating wrapping him up in a box (think Griswold) and giving him to my in-laws for Christmas. Yesterday's comments just gave Pippin a couple more weeks of good standing with me.
2. Ian has been sleeping much better the last three nights. Therefore, I have been debating about whether or not to get a Christmas tree. Last week when I was severally under the weather with a cold and lack of sleep I was thinking definitely no. Now with a clearer mind I am having doubts. Am I the grinch? Putting up a tree is so much work though. It is easier just to put out a nativity scene. Besides Ian loves the little Mexican wise men and shepherds that my parents picked up in Cancun last year.
This is good. Pippin and I have been having some issues lately so I really needed this. I had been contemplating wrapping him up in a box (think Griswold) and giving him to my in-laws for Christmas. Yesterday's comments just gave Pippin a couple more weeks of good standing with me.
2. Ian has been sleeping much better the last three nights. Therefore, I have been debating about whether or not to get a Christmas tree. Last week when I was severally under the weather with a cold and lack of sleep I was thinking definitely no. Now with a clearer mind I am having doubts. Am I the grinch? Putting up a tree is so much work though. It is easier just to put out a nativity scene. Besides Ian loves the little Mexican wise men and shepherds that my parents picked up in Cancun last year.
07 December 2008
Five Months
Ian at Five Months:
- Loves to eat his feet; is moving around a ton; started on rice cereal and bananas; has started to really like books- his fav. so far "moo, baa, la la la"; smiles a ton and may be forming dimples; hair color is still questionable- blond, red, or brown?; looks more and more like Tim every day!
Carseat Monster
Sorry I haven't blogged all week. I have spent the last several days trying to put Ian on some sort of schedule. I wrote down everything - when he ate, played, napped and tried to do the same everyday. I picked up those awful sleeping books again. I really tried, I did. It didn't work. I give up.
I have also spent the last week trying to get Ian to sleep during the night. That didn't work either. He was doing so well and then around 4 1/2 months he just stopped. He wakes up several times a night. He isn't hungry. We let him cry and just lay in bed wide awake. Hours drag by. Before you know it is 4am and Ian has been up crying for 3 hours. This boy is stubborn. I don't know if traveling over the holidays got him off schedule or what it was (and really I need to stop rationalizing why he isn't sleeping through the night or I am going to drive myself crazy), but this boy has done a 180.
My friend Jaime commented, "So your saying he is just a normal baby now?" And yes, I guess that is it. Ian is actually crying and not sleeping like he used to. My yoga friends will be ecstatic to hear this. They always thought Ian was such a poster child. Not anymore.
What I really think happened is that Tim and I created a carseat monster. We took Ian everywhere his first couple of months. He had been to more Top 100 Zagat restaurants in DC at 3 months old than Tim and I had been to in 6 years. Smithsonians- check. Potomac Yards- check. Alexandria- check. I also took him on several walks a day in an effort to burn off the baby pounds, and to just get outside and not become a hermit. Therefore Ian learned to be rocked, driven, and walked to sleep in his carseat. Put him in the carseat and he will sleep for hours. But put him in his crib and he flips out. I am only telling you all this so you don't make the same mistake.
We ARE making progress and Ian is getting used to sleeping in his crib but it is slow going.
I am going to leave you with this picture because it makes me laugh every time I look at it. My friend Jaime was kind enough to watch Ian for me one day when I had to go into work for some meetings. Jaime's son Isaac is just a couple weeks younger than Ian. Jaime texted me this picture while I was gone and it just cracks me up.
I have also spent the last week trying to get Ian to sleep during the night. That didn't work either. He was doing so well and then around 4 1/2 months he just stopped. He wakes up several times a night. He isn't hungry. We let him cry and just lay in bed wide awake. Hours drag by. Before you know it is 4am and Ian has been up crying for 3 hours. This boy is stubborn. I don't know if traveling over the holidays got him off schedule or what it was (and really I need to stop rationalizing why he isn't sleeping through the night or I am going to drive myself crazy), but this boy has done a 180.
My friend Jaime commented, "So your saying he is just a normal baby now?" And yes, I guess that is it. Ian is actually crying and not sleeping like he used to. My yoga friends will be ecstatic to hear this. They always thought Ian was such a poster child. Not anymore.
What I really think happened is that Tim and I created a carseat monster. We took Ian everywhere his first couple of months. He had been to more Top 100 Zagat restaurants in DC at 3 months old than Tim and I had been to in 6 years. Smithsonians- check. Potomac Yards- check. Alexandria- check. I also took him on several walks a day in an effort to burn off the baby pounds, and to just get outside and not become a hermit. Therefore Ian learned to be rocked, driven, and walked to sleep in his carseat. Put him in the carseat and he will sleep for hours. But put him in his crib and he flips out. I am only telling you all this so you don't make the same mistake.
We ARE making progress and Ian is getting used to sleeping in his crib but it is slow going.
I am going to leave you with this picture because it makes me laugh every time I look at it. My friend Jaime was kind enough to watch Ian for me one day when I had to go into work for some meetings. Jaime's son Isaac is just a couple weeks younger than Ian. Jaime texted me this picture while I was gone and it just cracks me up.
01 December 2008
Ian Wok
Being sick stinks, but being sick while having to take care of a 5 month old really stinks. I feel so blah that I have allowed myself to start my winter diet of bread and cheese early. I went to the store yesterday to get stuff for dinner and literally came home with only bread, cheese, tissues, OJ and cold medicine. That was it! Sorry Tim.
It seems so quiet being home after being at the Chapmans. We had a great time. Ian got passed around and around, and loved every minute of it except when he had to sleep, which he didn't really do. We spent several days recovering from the long nights but had a great time nonetheless. It was nice to be lazy for a change.
Nina got Ian his first snowsuit and Ian got his first nickname- Ian Wok.
Ian pre-snowsuit
Ian post snowsuit
Ian Wok
It seems so quiet being home after being at the Chapmans. We had a great time. Ian got passed around and around, and loved every minute of it except when he had to sleep, which he didn't really do. We spent several days recovering from the long nights but had a great time nonetheless. It was nice to be lazy for a change.
Nina got Ian his first snowsuit and Ian got his first nickname- Ian Wok.
Ian pre-snowsuit
Ian post snowsuit
Ian Wok
A couple of weeks ago Ian and I traveled up to Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania to visit my Grandmother for her 85th birthday. The whole Rotzell gang took her out to dinner. It has been over 2 years since I had last seen my Aunts and Uncles so it was so nice to have a long dinner to catch up with everyone. Two days after my grandmother's birthday she fell and hurt herself pretty badly, and is now moving into assisted living. I have so many memories visiting my grandmother and I am so grateful for the chance to be at her house one last time before she moves.
Ian with Grandmom Averil Rotzell
The Rotzell clan
And some more!
Of course Ian sleeping through it all!
Ian with Grandmom Averil Rotzell
The Rotzell clan
And some more!
Of course Ian sleeping through it all!
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