Silly pictures . . .

. . . for the giveaway on And the Rest is History's blog!

Works for Me Wednesday

What to do with all that extra bread leftover when you buy fresh crusty bread loaves for dinner or company? Well, in my house its mostly eaten, but if its not, and I like it, I cut it into big enough pieces for sandwiches or pizza (french-bread style) and freeze it in ziplock bags.

If its not a bread I care for (I prefer whole grains, but you knew that already), we store it in a brown bag until it gets hard, and make bread crumbs with it. Well, actually we give it to my aunt who takes everyone's bread, makes the crumbs, and gives some back. Who has time to grate bread?? WORKS FOR ME!

Head over to Rocks in My Dryer to learn some other useful tips!

Who do you look like?

One of the bloggers involved in the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival is asking who have you been told you look like?

I hear it all the time . . . I'm Sandra Bullock. I just don't see it, but you can be the judge.






Tell me, who do you look like?

Giveaway #2!!!!

Since many posters on my other giveaway below mentioned they would like one for girls, I am offering up a handmade crochet baby sweater made by l'il old me! I sold a few of these at our local Women's Exchange a few years back for $35 each. I never got this one over to them, so I am offering it to one lucky blog reader! That's why it still has the tag on it.

It's baby green, so it could be gender neutral, but I think the style is a bit more feminine. In order to win, check around my blog and then come back and share how you have personally been touched by adoption (do you know someone who has adopted, was adopted, is thinking about adoption, etc). If you have never been touched by adoption, tell me that reading my blog has now made you "touched by adoption"!

Comments will be open until Sat Feb 2nd at 11:59pm, and I will randomly draw a winner Sunday morning. Good luck! And please, no double comments.

And be sure to check out all the other wonderful giveaways at the Bloggy Giveaway Carnival's main site! Just click on the pink button below . . .

GIVEAWAY Time!

Yahoo . . . its the Bloggy GiveAways Carnival!

I'll be giving away this adorable Baby Boy Keepsake Gift Set. It has a ceramic My First Piggybank, My First Tooth ceramic box, and a My First Curl ceramic box. We have one for each of the boys, and we love it! If you're a sentimental mommy like me, enter by posting a comment to this blog, and you'll be in the drawing. Entries must be submitted by Friday (Feb 1st) at midnight, and a winner will be randomly selected!


And please click the pink button at the top of this post to check out all the other giveaways going on this week.

THIS GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED. THANKS!

One step forward, two steps back . . .

. . . gets us nowhere, right?

Saturday night was a dream come true. J* did not cry when I left his room after say8ing goodnight, and he fell asleep on his own. He even slept all night. Overjoyed, we kept telling him all day Sunday what a great job he did, blah, blah. Hubby went out and got him another Star Wars action figure we'd been promising. J* mentioned several times yesterday that "when I sleep by myself again, I want Yoda". I thought he was finally getting it.

So, you are probably surmising that last night was not bliss. He cried when I left him, and went on like that for 20 minutes. I came back, settled him down, and left again. This time, HE DIDN'T cry, and fell asleep on his own!

But . . . he woke in the night. So progress in one area and regression in another. Feels like we're standing still. But I will say, at least getting a few moments alone to myself in the evening is well worth it.

On to the baby brother . . . I spoke with AZJenn at length about sleep-training the baby. All of a sudden, we've realized he's developed a pattern over the past several weeks. He's tired in the evening, so I put him down around 7pm give or take, but he'll wake at 9pm for a feeding. Goes right back to sleep, then wakes at 2am to eat, and again at 5 or 5:30am. He'll be five months on Sunday. Time to sleep train. We're planning our strategy now, and hopefully start soon. I tried to let him CIO during the middle of the night feeding on Saturday (woke at 1am for some reason), but when he woke again at 3am, I was too tired to keep it up.

Any suggestions are welcome!

Finally Friday

Wow, its only been a 4-day workweek with the MLK holiday this past Monday, but I am just so exhausted. Thankfully, Friday is here!

Update on the sleep training . . . J* does well some nights with sleeping all night. Last night and the night before he has called for me, and like the sucker I am, I go and lay with him for a bit. As for the "going-to-sleep-by-himself" effort, he will still cry until I go back in, but it was down to twice last night that I had to go in, and he fell asleep after that. I don't love this method, but I'll give it another week. It just seems that he screams/cries for awhile, which tires him out, and that is why he falls asleep . . . not b/c he's learning anything, KWIM? What do you guys think?

Cooper has his first sickies . . . he has a cough and a bit of a fever this week. Croup was going around daycare, so hopefully it will not turn into that. He has such a sad little cough, and the sneezes! Oh, poor thing. But when he's awake, he's pretty happy, so it looks like it doesn't bother him.

I have given Coop oatmeal and applesauce a few times each. I just bought green beans and carrots, but more just to have them for when we're ready. He doesn't eat much of either the cereal or the apples, so I'll stick to that for awhile.

He goes down about 7-7:30pm, but wakes to eat about 2am, then again at 5:30am. Please send STTN thoughts, please! Mommy and Daddy need real sleep!

As for me, my next doctoral class starts 2/5, so I am enjoying the "time off" by doing a little crocheting, joining Facebook (cool!), and doing a little consultant work for extra cash. $2400 a month in daycare costs are really putting us in the hole!

Well, here's a pic for Foto Friday! Cooper at 20 weeks this past Monday, giving his "tough-guy" look:

I almost gave up.

Really. I almost did. Saturday night was lousy. J* had the fever and I just couldn't let him scream, so I laid down with him. He fell asleep OK with me there, but woke several times during the night. Yes, I stayed with him, um, you know, b/c of the fever.

Sunday night, we were at the inlaws late watching the Giants game, and he fell asleep in the car on the way home, and stayed asleep when I carried him in, so that night doesn't count.

Last night, I almost bagged it b/c I was alone again, and Cooper was cranky and had a cough. I thought Cooper was asleep at 8pm and went to read J* his night time stories, but Coop kept waking. I kept leaving J* in his bed to tend to Cooper, and J* did the standard crying he did when I started this whole CIO thing. I unintentionally let him cry for 30 while feeding Cooper, so when I went back up to check on him, he was ready to sleep. I sat for a minute while he stopped crying, and I said I'd be back when Cooper was done, but . . . he fell asleep!

I was in Cooper's room holding him and rocking in the glider as he fell asleep in my arms. I realized this was the first time I rocked him in that glider since he was BORN! I am so consumed with J* at night, that hubby has put Cooper down almost every night. I've never even had the CHANCE to rock Cooper. Here he is, now 4 1/2 months . . . my last baby . . . and I just held him for so long watching him sleep in my arms.

J* needs to sleep on his own for his own good. Its time. I need him to, so I don;t go mad. And Cooper needs him to also, so he can be a baby and be rocked by Mommy.

So, I didn't give up after all. My boys both need attention, and they both will get it.

In case you're keeping score . . .

After night 3, it is: Parents = 2, Kid = 1.

No, not a great night. Of course not. I was home alone! We went up to his room a little before 8pm to read. As soon as I went to turn out the light, he started screaming he was scared. I told him I loved him, kissed him and left (with the light on). He screamed for an hour! In between crying, "I want my mommy", he would throw in a "bad mommy, bad!". Oh, he knows just how to hurt me! I went in every 15 minutes to calm him down but it didn;t work.

After that hour, I went in and lied down next to him. He calmed down and fell asleep in 3 minutes. I guess an hour of hysterics is quite exhausting.

I thought it wasn't so bad, since the first two nights were "easy", I figured we'd have tough times too. But this morning he woke up with 102.8 fever. So I lose. Yep . . . bad mommy. Sigh.

Are we on to something?

Night 2 went, um, well! We read our three books, he hemmed and hawed about more, then said he was thirsty, etc, etc. I stood my ground, said good night, and left at 8:34. He cried and screamed. I went in at 8:45 and settled him down for 2 minutes. I left again. Not a peep after that, so at 9pm I checked on him. He was still awake, but not crying. I kissed him again, and left. Its now the next morning!!

The real test will be tonight, with hubby not here for support. Wish me luck, puhlease!

In the midst of it

Those of you against CIO. . . stop reading here!

Right now, J* is upstairs in his room SCREAMING. Tonight is the night we start "Big Boy sleep". I just can't go on as before.

I'm going to have a second glass of wine and go back in for him in 5 minutes, then 1o minutes. This hurts me.

I'll keep you posted.

Update: Been back three times, and he is quiet at the moment. Fingers crossed!

Second update: Hubby went in the fourth time and almost ruined everything! He is such a wuss! I stayed for 10 minutes while J* settled down. I then kissed him again and said I'd be back. That was 20 minutes ago, and all is quiet. I am heading to bed. Wish us luck!

Next day update: He fell asleep after that and slept the night! Day two coming up tonight. I may switch to vodka!

a new Christian Soldier!

Cooper was baptized this past Sunday! What a beautiful day, surrounded by family and friends, good food and wine, and a Giants win! Actually just kidding on the last part, as I couldn't care less about football, but hubby and FIL are very happy.

4-month check-up . . . grow, baby, grow!

Length: 25.5 inches
Weight: 15lbs 2 oz

50% percentile for weight and 75% for height. He is yummy chubs, and really filling out nicely! Other than a little facial eczema, he's doing beautifully, and laughing/squealing up a storm. Until the shots, that is. Poor baby, had achy thighs and a fever yesterday. Hopefully its all forgotten.

Guess I'll have to write a book

After my first "real" conversation I had with big brother last week, I started to really contemplate how to discuss both adoptions with my children. It ain't easy. There's so much to say, but you can't say it all at once . . . for now it needs to be simple, and told over and over again, by both of us.

We have the book, The Day We Met You by Phoebe Koehler.
Its a simple paperback that has served us well for the past 2 years. J* knows its the book about him, and he can recite it as I read it with him. I took a sharpie and tailored a few pages to him, adding his name, etc. But I think he needs more depth to the story now. That's why I mentioned his birthmother's name last week.

We have Tell me again about the night I was born by Jamie Lee Curtis, and we've started reading this together. Its amazing how exactly this story fits our own, since he was born in the night, and we did get the call that woke us up (well me, anyway). We were so nervous on that plane ride down, and guarded that baby with our lives on the trip up.

Adoption books have come along way, and I'm sure there are other great ones for me and J* to read. But what about Cooper? What do I read to him?

I did and Amazon search, and found some egg donor books that are quite sweet, and even one I can take my tested Sharpie too, and create a make shift one for Cooper too. But, my kids deserve more than make-shift, ya know?

Guess I'm saying stay tuned. Embryo adoption storybook to come!

Has it really been 4 months?

Cooper was born 4 months ago. Wow. It doesn't seem that long ago, yet at the same time it feels like he's been in our family forever. Its amazing how much I love that kid. And my other kid. WOW. I have two kids. Two boys. I never knew I had this much love in my heart to give.