The Day Before..

.. the kiddos head back to school. 

{Can you hear the maniacal laughing?? No? Maybe that's just in my head.}

Don't get me wrong. I adore my kiddos. I love our family time. 

But 2 weeks straight...

I gotta say- all of you home-schooling mamas out there definitely have something on me!! I don't know how you do it. I admire the heck out of you!! But I'm well aware I could never do it.

So, our New Year's Day was very low-key (just like our Christmas!). For the first time since Xandra was born, I decided it was ok to let her (& the little man) stay up late. 

Yep. I was the classic first-time mama, who vows to stick to the rules & schedules. No. Matter. What.

Until...

The next kid comes along.

:)

I would have *never* let Xandra use the iPad when she was 2!

Poor Xandra's gonna hate me as she gets older. She's got the tough-first-born road to walk (just like I did). 

Back to our day... (I get side-tracked easily)
Milo didn't last long. He made it until almost 8:00 (normal bedtime is 7:30).
Xandra made it until 10:30. And she was not a happy-camper. Very cranky.
I went to our bedroom around 11:45 & watched the ball drop. (Matt fell asleep on the couch & I didn't bother him.)
Then I tossed & turned, ended up flipping the tv back on for a while, tossed & turned more... the last time I looked at the clock it was 2:30.
I didn't hear him, but apparently Milo woke up at 3:00. Thankfully, Matt took care of him. :)
I did hear Xandra, though. At 4:30. Moaning & groaning about her leg hurting. I think she's having growing pains. I calmed her down & went back to bed until almost 7:00.

Even after we all "woke" for the day (I say that loosely), it was just a blah day. Milo had way too much energy for not sleeping a whole lot. Xandra was emotional & cranky. Matt & I were just plain tired. 

We did put the kids down for regular naps, but even that got messed up.

Milo slept ok, but restless.

Xandra laid down, but never slept. We could hear her playing around in her room.

And then, around 5:30...

Really kids?? Really? 

You're gonna try to *nap* at 5:30?

On a school night???

GRRRR!!!

I left them alone for about 30'ish minutes. Then I made a lot of noise & woke them up. 

I didn't take any pleasure in doing that. {yeah, right!!} 

Overall, it was a good day, considering. But I was kind of happy when it was bedtime. Because I was really tired!

Here are a couple more pics I got of my munchkins yesterday.

/\ The kids telling me something (probably to stop taking their pictures) \/

Dreams Come True {Sunday Snapshot}

This is one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen:

This is what we waited a year & a half for. 

Not always patiently. ;)

Seeing 4 stockings up there on the mantle, instead of just 3, is just incredible.

This is the kiddos' last week of school before Christmas break. Tuesday is my last final of the semester (woo!!). I've been very busy trying to cram for that test....

Ok. I've been very busy avoiding studying for that test.

But it's finally the 11th hour. And I need to buckle down.

But who can concentrate with this cuteness in the house??

Building the tower up

It fell down Mama!!

I give up! There's something more interesting over there!

Do you think I'm rubbing off on him?

My friend & I had our "1st Annual Cookie & Crafting-palooza" yesterday. I'll post more about that in the next day or so. It was lots of fun, but we did have a couple mishaps, including one injury. Thankfully, the cookies are awesome, which makes it all worthwhile!!

Oh- for those wondering about my previous post & our sleep dilemma...
Milo got a little bit of a sniffle early last week (nothing serious). So I took that as an opportunity to give him some sinus medication that just happened to have the side effect of sleepiness. I hated to do that, but it did help all of us. And I only gave it to him for 2 nights. It seems to have broken the nighttime sleep pattern - he's sleeping now from about 8 pm to 5 am. It's still way early for me, but it's better than 3 or 4.

The naps are still difficult for him. I think he's afraid he's going to miss something fun if he's napping. I know we'll get back on track eventually. We'll have lots of time to work on it during our Christmas break. :)

Need Sleep {Sunday Snapshot}

The pics have not a thing to do with the post below. But the kiddos played outside today. And I took advantage of it! :)

LOVE LOVE LOVE!!

So.. does it look better in color? Or in B&W? I just can't decide!! I want to get it printed up (maybe canvas?).. Which one do you think?

Milo was excited to be playing outside again.
Oh- and he found a long piece of that ornamental grass to carry around like a sword. :)

It was starting to get dark. I wish this one had come out clearer cause I LOVE the expression!!

It's been a tiring day. It's been a tiring month. Milo has decided that sleep is unnecessary for a 2-year-old. He goes to bed every night as usual. But he wakes just about every single night around 3 or 4 am. Like... he thinks he's up for the day. And he's also decided that those consistent 2-hour or longer naps are worthless. Nowadays, it's 45 minutes, if we're lucky. 

Unfortunately, that has caused the rest of us to become rather sleep-deprived. 

Ahhh... Sleep Deprivation. It will do some strange things to a person. 

Maybe it only affects us parents. Cause the kids seem to be doing ok. 

Well, aside from the crankiness. And their constant fighting.

Wait... that perfectly describes us parents, too. 

The pediatrician says to just be consistent. I find this really amusing. Consistency is our entire life right now. We've been consistent with schedules & routines since Xandra was a baby. & Ultra-Consistent since Milo came home. 

This too shall pass... right? 

Cause we need sleep around here. 

Good News!

We're still having trouble with sleeping over here. But that's not stopping Milo from wowing us with his tricks!! He's getting better & better at walking! He chased Xandra around for a while until he got frustrated that he couldn't catch her. In time though, he'll give her a run for her money!

Matt & I have floated the idea that it's quite possible Milo could already walk before we met him. It is a good possibility, I know. Especially given how quickly he seems to have almost mastered the skill. Things like stopping & starting on his own and turning around were things that took Xandra a bit of time  to figure out... while Milo got it right away. But as I told Matt, I don't care if this was just part of the regression he went through- I'm glad he allowed he us to celebrate this "new" skill with us!

My pictures aren't as clear as I'd like them, but it's not easy to get a moving target. :) This one just about brings tears to my eyes! I know Xandra's having some trouble adjusting to life with Milo. She's really experiencing some jealousy, and is acting out to get attention from Matt & I. But these in moments like these... I just melt! I wish I could make it easier for her... and I hate feeling like all I do is yell at her. We'll all find our new normal soon enough, I know.

Aside from all of Milo's big news, I got a unbelievable piece of mail yesterday!! I finally got a letter from school letting me know that I was accepted into the Medical Ultrasonography program!! I was so worried about it last semester, and then everything started coming together with Milo's adoption that I stopped focusing on it. I actually managed to not think about it the entire time we were in China (which is good for me- I tend to obsess about things like that!). So, now I've got 3 more years of schooling until I can have an actual, honest-to-God career!!

Walking!!!

Our baby boy is WALKING!! He's taken a couple steps here & there since a few days after we got him in China. But, he would hold onto our hand with a death grip while we practiced, and would promptly crumble to the floor if we tried to let go.

Today though, he finally did it!! Matt & I sat a little bit apart (as we'd done countless times before) and "passed" him back & forth. He got the hang of it pretty quickly from there. In fact, Matt took Xandra out for a some daddy/daughter time alone a little later & Milo showed off. He walked away from me, turned around & came back! It took Xandra a while to grasp the turning around thing. So, that kind of blew me away!

Matt laughed later saying "You realize we've only made him even more potentially destructive!" He's already into everything he can get his hand on & has been desperately trying to climb/get to things he can't yet reach. Now, he'll be even worse!!

What cracked me up was Milo's squeals every time he took a few steps. He was so proud of himself! And so were we!!

Sleeping went a lot better last night than in the past few days. Matt gave Milo a bath, and I gave him a bit of Benadryl. I also got a small radio for his room so it wouldn't be so quiet. Whether it was the combination, or just one thing - he slept from 9:30 to 6!! YAY!! I suppose the big test will be tonight. No Benadryl tonight... and no bath (no energy to give one). I hope we'll have the same luck!! **Crossing fingers!**

Schedules & Routines

We tried to do it the way Matt suggested, which actually sounded good to me in the beginning. We tried to get back onto our normal routine/schedule as much as possible. Granted, we made room knowing things wouldn't come together right away. Matt & I both thought we were doing well last night, when all four of us made it to bed at 10 pm. We were sure that we were headed in the right direction... just knowing that we would all get a good night's sleep! 

The inevitable crying began at 4 am. Milo was up. We've been putting him in his crib in his own room because he moves around so much, and is so much safer there than in our bed where he could easily fall out. I wouldn't mind his sleeping with us if we went to bed at the same time as he did. That's our thought process anyway. Unfortunately, Milo doesn't really care to be alone. And he really doesn't like being "abandoned" in his own room. We've been waiting until he's already very tired (sometimes already asleep) to take him to his room. Most of the time he does wake up when we lay him down, but settles pretty quickly because he's so tired. (BTW, he's building up more of a stamina to this process & is starting to really put up a fight.) It's when he wakes up that is the worst. That's when he is fully aware that we have left him alone in that room. 

So the ear-piercing, scared-to-the-core shrieks got me up and running to his room this morning. Xandra soon followed his lead at 5 am. And someone decided that this was an acceptable time to wake for the day (I'm not sure who decided that- but I will need to have a stern discussion with them when I find them!). 

This is how we all ended up feeling some time during mid-morning:

**Note: this is not Milo! :) it's just a pic I grabbed online**

 Milo took a nap around 9:30 am-Noon. I also couldn't help myself, and fell asleep on the couch for about that long. Matt & Xandra cleaned up a bit (more Matt than Xandra), and made brunch (again, the credit will need to go to Matt here). I got Milo up (though he was not happy about that until he smelled/saw the food). As soon as brunch was over though, everyone in the family started passing out. Milo first. Then Matt. Then Xandra. Then me.

We all slept until almost 7 pm!! We had dinner around 9. And the kids played together until I finally forced them to go to bed at

TWO O'CLOCK IN THE MORNING!!!

Yep, I tucked my kids in at 2 am. I've given up on Matt's initial plan. The way I figure, we'll sleep when we're tired, for however long our bodies need to, and eventually nature will work itself out. The waking hours of today were not really happy ones. Everyone was cranky from sleep deprivation, and the fact that we were either woken earlier than we wanted and/or kept awake when we wanted to sleep (that would be both for the parents). A lot of whining and crying today... and not all by the kids!!

Sleep... What's That??

Ahhh... isn't jet lag FUN?? I managed to stay up all day yesterday without a nap (from 6 am to 9 pm). It wasn't necessarily something I wanted to do - it was more out of necessity. The kids were up, so we were up. We messed up a bit & let Xandra take a "nap" around 4 pm, and she ended up sleeping until almost 8 when we finally woke her up. By that time, though, Milo decided it was about his turn to take a "nap" (he'd fought us on that when X went down & managed to keep himself awake all flippin' day). 

Thankfully, Xandra was still tired around 9, so she snuggled with me & we fell asleep in the reclining chair. But Milo woke up screaming around midnight, so I am once again running on 3 hours sleep. Not fun. 

I think Matt & I are going to attempt trying the sleeping in shifts one of our FCC friends told us to do. I drew the short stick, so Matt gets to sleep first. At least it gives me an opportunity to update the blog some more (the kids are doing really well playing independently- especially Milo!).

So, the day after we got Milo, we had to do all the government office stuff (sign papers, wait, pay some fees, wait, sign more papers, wait, sweat out almost 10 pounds, wait, wait, wait) - there aren't many pictures of that day. 

The next day, our guide took us to a temple (the name of which is escaping me at the moment). It was really pretty, but once we got "inside" it turned out to be a pretty touristy area full of shops where we were hounded to buy stuff. 

All we really wanted at that point was some clothing for Milo. When I asked my guide to help us find baby clothing, she took us to a shop that only sold the silk outfits. While I did want a couple of those for special occasions, I was really looking for "everyday wear." She finally took us to a small mall type store (reminded me of a Macy's-type store), where we promptly overpaid for outfits that still didn't fit him (I really need to study some more metric units!). 

We'd intended to go a couple more places after the temple, but we were getting tired by the time we got through the temple. We ended up waiting another 45 minutes while the guide tried to find her way back to the driver (while we tiredly trudged through the entire temple 2 more times behind her)- we were exhausted at the end.

The next day (I think we're on Thursday 5/12 now?- I lost track of the days), we went to the Shanghai zoo. Xandra had been bugging us about going since we found out it was close to the hotel. She was desperate to see pandas. The zoo would have been much better labeled as a park- the animal portion was just depressing. Almost all of the walkways weren't paved in the way we are used to (like concrete sidewalks), it was almost exclusively paver stones. While they were pretty, it was very uneven terrain, and a large majority of the stones were loose or missing. It became quite treacherous for Xandra. The guide took a liking to Xandra, and was holding her hand while she speed-walked through the zoo. Xandra ended up wiping out twice, skinning the same knee both times. It really put a damper on the outing.

 This was a beautiful area for the geese & ducks.

I just don't have the heart to put up the pictures of the very depressing animal conditions on the blog. It makes me sad every time I look at them. Just suffice it to say that's where they put all the concrete that I was desperate to see on the walkways. 

We were once again exhausted after this outing. On the way back to the hotel, the driver took us by the Bund to get some pictures. It was a beautiful area - very modern Chinese style on one side of the river & old British style on the other. But it was so smoggy, the pictures barely turned out at all. I'm going to try to play with them to see if I can jazz them up at all. I did pick up some postcards at another tourist gift shop the guide took us to- they have amazing pictures of both the temple we'd visited & the Bund. I'm going to have them mounted & framed up for Milo's room. 

 Matt snuggled with Milo for nap time. They slept this way for about 2 hours. :)

 Milo started copying everything Xandra did. I'm so glad we brought her on the trip!! They clicked right away!

This was one of the first smiles I was able to catch on camera! He's so handsome!!

Awful, Horrible, No Good, Rotten Day

Let me start by saying: I'M EXHAUSTED!!! We had some major rain storms here last night. We live on a hill, so although there were all kinds of flood warnings & watches in our area, we don't really worry about that, even though it had been raining from about 9:30 pm until 6:00 am straight. I found out this morning that there were also some tornado warnings & watches issued @ 1:30 am as well. Since we do live on a hill, we almost constantly have some type of breeze, but usually a full-out wind. Last night went way beyond that. I honestly thought the house was going to blow down. It was insane. Add onto the the insane wind gusts, all of the crazy loud thunder claps, and you end up with a very scared & unable to sleep 4-year-old. She woke up a couple times with the thunder, and finally at 4:00 am, I just brought Xandra to bed with me. This child has not slept in our bed since she was 8 weeks old (I've been insistent that she stays in her bed no matter what because she beat the heck out of me when she was an infant!). It did work- she finally got back to sleep & stayed asleep until 6:30. Unfortunately, I had already been tossing & turning (both with the storm & the screaming child) for the entire night until she finally settled down, so I really only got maybe 3 or 4 hours of sleep. 


So, a not-so-great start to a Monday. I've gone on with my day with less sleep though... I'm a mom! I can do lots of things on little to no sleep! Then I went to take my Physics exam. . . . . I think my professor may have written the test in some new, as-of-yet undiscovered language. Or maybe I was transported out of my body on the 4,5,6 days that he went over the information he was testing on (I know I was physically in the class, but maybe I took the wrong notes???). Or maybe my teacher is just kind of mean (I'm thinking this is it... ). I was absolutely exhausted after the exam was over. And I'd worked myself up so much over it, that I had a stomach ache. 


A couple of my friends decided they'd like to study for our upcoming Anatomy test after school, so I asked my poor sick (wonderful!) husband to please pick up Xandra so I could do some extra studying. With his agreement, I set out to meet my friends at a local restaurant. I got to my car, opened the trunk to throw my book bag in, & closed it... with my keys inside. Now, supposedly, this should not be a problem because I have this handy dandy smart key that should never let me be able to do that. The trunk isn't supposed to be able to latch if the keys are in there.... WRONG!!! What a way to end the day!!!! I was so mad at myself- I felt so stupid. Thankfully, one of my friends had parked near me & offered to take me back to my house, grab the spare, & bring me back to school. Thank goodness for wonderful friends!! 


All I want to do right now is just go to bed. I still need to study for that darn A&P exam. But I think I'll just hold off on that until tomorrow. The exam isn't until Wednesday, so I have a little time to try to "catch up" on some sleep. With any luck at all, tomorrow will be a better day. *crossing my fingers!*

SPRING & Eating my Words

Our dog Lexie, perched on the arm of our couch (her favorite spot), so she can soak up the sun (she's kind of a solar dog)

Why, is that sun I see in that picture?! Today was the first day of the year that we hit decent temperatures- above 60!! Spring is on its way!! Matt noticed yesterday that the sun was actually still up at 6:00 pm! We haven't seen that in what feels like forever - the new Daylight Savings schedule really sucks in that aspect.

Eating my Words

Ok, a few posts back I complained about my jack-in-the-box daughter who continually pops up at night. Yes, I do still find this a rather annoying habit. But last night when I heard her stirring in the middle of the night, I went in to check (she was whimpering & she's prone to having bad dreams). So, I walked into her room & this is what happened:

"Are you okay, honey?"

Her reply was, "Mooommmmy...hhhmmmmuuuhhhhhdddddddddmmmmmmm."

"Sweety, are you alright? Cause you're not using real words."

"Mooommmmmmm... Iiiii..."

"Ok, let me tuck you back in. Love you! Night!!"

She was apparently still asleep. It was beyond adorable. I've been having a hard time recently realizing how much she's growing up. And I mean that literally - she's insanely tall! But she's also doing so much more on her own- becoming so independent. It's good, I know. But kind of bittersweet for me. I miss my baby.

I never thought we'd get out of the infant stage, and we had a difficult time with her. Her first year and a half, she had crazy reflux - it seemed that all she would do was eat, vomit, eat, vomit, eat, sleep, pee, & repeat. For every 1 bottle a "normal" baby would have (yes, she was a bottle-baby.. we tried really hard, but breast feeding just never worked for us), Xandra would need at least 2 or 3. She wasn't diagnosed with reflux until she was 6 months old, though I knew there was a problem way before that (the darn doctor just wouldn't listen to me). I was so happy when she finally began eating & keeping it down. Of course, by then she was walking & a whole new set of problems began. It was a pretty miserable time while we were living it day in & day out.

Of course, now I look back on it, and miss being able to cuddle with my baby & spend so much time with her. She doesn't want me to do that any more. She only wants me when she needs a snack. At least it feels that way at times. She does run to me when she gets hurt, or feels some injustice has happened to her. But now, she just comes to me for reassurance, and quickly runs off to find her new favorite toy of the moment. It's good... but it hurts my heart a little. She's becoming a little lady.

Well, this post has gone way off track! I didn't intend to write about any of that tonight... :) Oh well, I tend to ramble.

POP! Goes the Weasel! Oh wait...

My child.. my precious, beautiful, enchanting little girl... ahhhh. My wonderful little girl has become a jack-in-the-box. We put her to bed, she pops back up. We tuck her in again... POP! We get her some water... POP! We take her to potty... POP! We rub her feet because she insists they hurt & she can't possibly sleep in so much pain... POP!!

I went out with a friend last night to study for a very big Anatomy test I had today. I left when Matt was headed up the stairs with Xandra to get ready for bed - @ 8:00. I had a great time, and pulled back in the driveway 2 hours later feeling pretty confident about the upcoming test. I walked in the front door... and found my cute little manipulative daughter sitting on the couch in the family room watching tv. My husband was in an adjoining room, playing a video game. I immediately asked him if he was aware she was up. Yes, he was... apparently she had cried, and desperately wanted/needed another hug & kiss from mommy before she could possibly think about going back to bed. Daddy insisted I go easy on her... after all, she had cried. I guess in those 2 hours, daddy let miss Xandra play with her B*arbies for a while before he allowed her to come down & watch tv.

So tonight, we had a similar situation except this time, Matt left as I was getting ready to put Xandra to bed. One would think that at this point in her life, Xandra would know who is the stricter parent. Apparently, that little tidbit has slipped right past her. She tried to play the same game with me as she did with daddy. A full 10 minutes after I tucked her in she popped back up to let me know that she needed to potty (don't worry about having gone just 10 minutes before). Since she knows how to go potty all by herself during the day, this should not be an issue for her to go by herself at night... right? WRONG! We get through all of that... with Xandra letting me know that she would be telling daddy on me for being mad at her. I tuck her in a 2nd time. I come back downstairs to get started on my homework, and @ 30 minutes later, Matt came home. I suddenly heard movement upstairs, and turned around to find Xandra on the staircase begging daddy for a "squeeze." Matt took her back up & tucked her in... again. Not too long after, Matt decided to go to bed. Unfortunately, I still had some homework to do, so I stayed up.

About 5 minutes later, I hear a little person talking... I go up again. This time, she was sitting right outside our bedroom (where my loving husband was watching tv), talking up a storm. When she caught sight of me, she immediately came up with her story- she had to get her doggy toy that she accidentally left outside our room 2 weeks ago, and then she had to get a drink of water.... 'why are you mad at me mommy?'

I feel like I'm taking crazy pills!!!

Happy Girl

Happy Face!

For two nights in a row, our princess did not sleep. And I don't mean that she was restless. I mean, I put her to bed Wednesday night at 8:00 and she woke up at 11:00. Three hours of sleep, and that was it. She stayed up the rest of the night. My incredible husband stayed up with her, letting me rest a bit since I had class the next day. There seemed to be nothing wrong with her, so we dropped her off at daycare as usual. Her teachers told us that other than being a little clingy in the morning, she was fine. We thought surely she would sleep Thursday night....

How wrong we were. She did manage to sleep a little bit longer, but not much. I barely made it to class Friday, I was so exhausted. Daddy managed to take her to the pediatrician and once again received the diagnosis of strep throat. Again. She just had it maybe a month ago. That bout was pretty bad- she threw up non-stop for almost 2 days. They wouldn't even give her medication because she couldn't keep anything down. She got the meds this time around, and within a few hours was feeling sooo much better!

Today is the second day, and wow! she feels so much better! The picture above is one of the first when she started playing around again. I buried her in pillows. :) Oh, and she's got chocolate cookie all over her mouth (It can payoff being sick - mommy & daddy give in to most sweets requests...).

Middle of the Night Moments

For the past couple weeks (ok, months) we've been trying to let Xandra know that it really is ok to get up out of bed at night... if she needs to go to the bathroom. We've been struggling with being fully potty-trained for quite some time. I tend to blame myself most of the time, but also her old sitter at other times. We left Xandra's old sitter when she was about 3 1/2 years old. She wasn't even close to being potty-trained at that time. I had tried. Many times. But every time I tried to use pull-ups or (God forbid) regular underwear, I would get a lecture from the sitter that it was just too much work for her to try to potty-train Xandra with all the other kids in the house (red flag anyone?). Without walking too far down that ugly path, let's just say, that was one of many reasons we parted ways with the sitter & not on good terms.

Anyway, within about a month of being at her new daycare, she was pretty much "day-trained." God bless the people that work at the daycare (I LOVE them!!). But we have not, no matter how much we try, been able to keep her dry during naps/rest time or nighttime. It's becoming very frustrating. She's finally, in the last couple months, started staying dry all day at school- even through nap time. Unfortunately, this new skill has not come home with her-- meaning on weekends & breaks from school, she wets every day during nap time without fail. I've been thinking that part of the problem may be the fact that once she's in bed, she Will Not Set Foot Out of Bed EVER until one of us comes to get her.

So, back to the original story-- we've been drilling in her head that she has permission to get out of bed to go to the bathroom whenever she feels the urge to. She's tested us on this the last few evenings. She's very stealthy - about 10 minutes or so after I say goodnight to her, she will sneak her way down the steps & sit there until daddy or I find her. Then she quickly says that she just needed to go potty. Last night, same story, only I caught her before she made her way down the steps. I told my little fairy (she always looks so innocent at those later hours) sitting at the top of the steps to go potty & get her little butt back in bed.

Later when I was on my way to bed, I stopped in her room to take her for another bathroom break. After I'd tucked her in and was headed out the door, I heard her whimper. I came back & asked what was wrong. She said, "I sad Mama. I want my movie." "What movie?" "No!! No movie! I want to see the snow!" I tried really hard not to laugh out loud. Instead, I calmly took her hands, realizing she was most likely half-asleep & told her everything was ok & we would talk about it in the morning. She quickly drifted back to sleep.

Unfortunately, she ended up getting up at least 2 more times through the night (it may have been more, but I was too exhausted to count). Thank God for Matt- I've said it before & I guarantee I'll say it again about him - he saves me. I'm not really great in the middle of the night. Who is? Matt. He went in & rocked her until she'd calmed down from whatever it was that woke her - hopefully not the want to see the snow.

**On a parting note: If anyone out there has any really great potty-training advice, I'm all ears! We've tried most of the "tried & true" methods, but at 4 1/2 years old... we're still awaiting the day when Xandra can be pull-up free (Milo will be another story).