Sleeping Battles

As many of you know, Leon is not a good sleeper! I've battled and battled with him to take naps and to sleep through the night. This week I'm going to try a few new things. The major things we need to work on are 1) Getting Leon to fall asleep and back to sleep on his own. He always wants to nurse to sleep which I wouldn't think would be so bad if he could so fall asleep on his own other times. 2) To stay asleep until at least 6:00 am and no earlier. For the last 3 to 4 weeks he has been getting up around 5:00 am to eat and not wanting to go back to sleep. 3) Only getting up 2 to 3 times at night to eat. He really doesn't need it more than that.

Wish us Luck!

He is so dang cute when he sleeps! Just take a look at these photos we've taken of him over the last 4 months of him asleep:

First he would only sleep if I was holding him:

And then he started sleeping on his boppy pillow.

One time he fell asleep in his carrier.

Asleep on his boppy pillow again. He looks pretty comfy here.

Stretching out after a nap.

When we moved, I found that he loved to fall alseep swinging on the porch swing.

Asleep on the boppy AGAIN. He stopped doing this when he started to wiggle around more.

This one is so funny. He was so worn out one day that when Kyle put him on the floor to play he just passed out.

This was one day when I couldn't handle him anymore, so I put him in this bed out of frustration. I went in to find him like this! Too funny!

One day when he was sleeping really well (very rare) I checked on him and found him like this.

One more reason to love my house!

Leon and I were heading out to the porch swing when I saw this little fawn. We watched her for a couple of seconds and then I quickly thought "CAMERA"! So I quietly went back inside the house, put Leon down on his play mat (praying that he would be able to entertain himself for just a little bit), grabbed my camera, changed the regular lens to the zoom lens, checked on Leon again (who was happily playing), and then headed back outside. Look at these shots I got!

She was so sweet. However, I kept wondering where on earth her mother was. I got a little worried about it, but what am I supposed to do? She stood there for a couple of minutes while I clicked away at my shutter before she ran off.

Just one more reason to love where I'm living.

Today we started painting the trim in the living room white. It is looking so much better! It really brightens the room up and makes my wall color really look good (where as before it didn't look quite the way I had hoped). It is so nice to have things starting to be the way I've been envisioning it!

Monkey Love.

How could I possibly NOT love this little monkey?

Honey-Soy Glazed Chicken Recipe

This is a recipe that Kyle and I love. We actually had it tonight and thought it would be a good one to share. It is super easy and super yummy. We eat it with fried rice that has lots of yummy veggies in it. You should give it a try sometime!



Ingredients:

1/2 cup honey
2 tablespoons soy sauce
8 skinless chicken drumsticks (about 3 pounds total)
coarse salt and ground pepper

1. Preheat oven to 475 degrees. Line a shallow roasting pan or 9-by-13-inch baking dish with aluminum foil. In a large bowl, mix together honey, soy sauce, and 1/3 cup water. Add chicken, and toss to coat; season with salt and pepper. Transfer chicken and honey mixture to prepared roasting pan.

2. Bake chicken, basting with juices from edges of pan every 10 minutes, until well browned and an instant-read thermometer inserted into thickest part of drumstick (avoiding bone) registers 165 degrees, 30 to 40 minutes. Serve chicken drizzled with pan juices.

I like to also add a little bit of sesame seeds to the mixture.

This recipe is complements of the amazing (but a little odd, in my personal opinion) Martha Stewart.

Sonny's Baby Shower

Sonny is my amazing friend who will be having a little boy (our boys will be best buds) at the end of August. I threw Sonny a little shower this last Saturday. It was a lot of fun. We had a little brunch, played a couple of games, opened gifts, ate some more, and then just sat around and chit-chatted. I'm so glad I was able to do this for Sonny. She is a dear and loyal friend who has been such a help to me lately! Sonny, you deserve the best.

Ms. Ella (who Sonny babysits) was such a big help with opening gifts.

Sonny sporting her super cute diaper bag full of goodies.

The shower gang

Hannah, Sonny, and Jessica. I LOVE this photo of them!

Sonny and I. (I need a haircut terribly. Don't worry I'm going this weekend.)

The Preggos (but Chrita had her baby already)

Congrats Sonny!

I know you are going to be an amazing mother. That is one lucky little dude in your belly!

Sweet Ella

This is sweet little Ella. She is a friend of mines sweet little girl. I was itching to do some little newborn photos and Kathleen was more than willing to let Ella be my subject. They just moved to Washington and I am sad that I won't have the pleasure of seeing this little one get bigger. These are a few of my favorites that I just absolutely adore. I hope I get more chances to shoot sweet little munchkins like this one.

To see more photos of Ella and her sisters click here.

Where did the time go?

My baby boy went from this:

only 7lbs 9 oz and 20 inches long

to:

this: 4 months old weighing 13 lbs 2 oz and measuring in at 24 inches long!

Honestly though. Where did these last four months go? He is getting so big. He is doing too many fun and cute things. He is rolling over like a champ. He almost rolled right off the doctor's table today! Three months was so much fun, I can't imagine what four months will bring.

Speaking of fun. Look at this little squirt! This was my attempt at naptime yesterday. I went in after a few minutes of putting him down and found him wiggled around like this! He sure is a character.

So. I've been reading that book "Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy Child" and love it. It has really helped me realize what I need to be doing with Leon to help him sleep better. I started reading it Friday night, started implementing it principles on Saturday, and I'm already starting to see some results from it. This may seem a little silly, but it has given me so much hope that I can do this right. It has helped me to become more patient about it. I hope I can keep that attitude up.

Our house is finally starting to look like a real home. Kyle and I got most of the wall hangings up this weekend. We also started going through the dining room which we've been using as an unpacking room. I planted some flowers for our porch. After two months of living here, it feels good to be getting some of this stuff done. I want to post photos sometime, but I want to wait until we get new furniture and some more of the cosmetic stuff done. Maybe this fall it will be photo worthy?

?????????????????????????

Why all the sudden is my baby being very difficult about things? A few days ago he decided that he was no longer going to take his pacifer and that it is better served as a chew toy? I can't get him to take any pacifer. This used to be how I got him to calm down enough to fall asleep. SLEEP...don't even get me started! Last night I got up 5 times! Yesterday he woke up at 5:15 am and refused (just wanted to play) to go back to bed until 8:30. I'm so exhausted. We tried crying it out for 4 days. It didn't improve at all so now I just get up with him. He refused to take his regular morning nap this morning which is when I get an extra hour of shut eye. I finally got him to sleep by swinging on the porch swing. It didn't take long for him to pass out.

Well I just want to give up. I think it is time to start trying some new things. Some girls at church were talking about this book..."Healthy Sleep Habits, Healthy Child". I'm going to go buy it. I guess it is supposed to be really good. I am also going to buy a CD player for this room. My mom gave me a CD of lullibies. He loves to be sung to, so why not? Anything is worth a shot right now.

I need a break.

I need some sleep.

I feel like I'm doing everything wrong.

My Boys

I love my boys. My favorite times are when we are all together as a family. Leon is always so happy when it is all three of us together. Leon absolutely loves his daddy.

You can see how much they look alike in these images.

I adore this photo. This is my sweet little guy.