Last Wednesday, on the floor in my office, Tyler rolled from his back to his front for the first time! Thursday, he repeated this new trick for Tyson several times. And by Sunday, he could do it with ease, startling us with his speed. Congratulations, Tyler!
But rolling over was our official deadline for having Tyler sleep in his crib at night. That sounds alright - the crib is beautiful, and that mattress HAS to be more comfortable than the pack-n-play. But the crib is set up in the nursery, and Tyson has declared he is not going to take it apart to move it into our bedroom and re-assemble it. I briefly thought to myself "He can just keep sleeping in the pack-n-play. So what if the instructions said that once a kid can roll to his stomach, he shouldn't sleep overnight in it. They're just worried about liability." But, regardless of the unlikelihood of the pack-n-play posing a danger, the truth is, we don't want Tyler to sleep in our room forever, and the longer we wait, the harder it will be for him to adapt to sleeping in his own room. I'd read somewhere that "if he can see you from his bed, he'll come to rely on your presence to soothe himself back to sleep." I'd thought to myself "He can't see me. It's too dark." But early Sunday morning in the dawn light, I noticed Tyler looking at me and blowing raspberries. A few minutes later, he had fallen back asleep. Hmmm.
And so we made the transition Sunday night. On our bed, Tyson carefully wrapped Tyler in his "14-22 lb" swaddle blanket (thank goodness they make swaddle blankets so big!!! This is the only thing that works to get him to sleep through the night!).Then we made the long journey through our tiny living room, turned right to head towards the guest bathroom, then left down the long, narrow hallway to Tyler's room. Suddenly, our house seemed to big, that hallway too long. Tyson tenderly laid Tyler down in his crib. "But he won't have any white noise! He's closer to the street. It's louder down here." Feeling like the Wicked Witch of the West for banishing my son from our room, I steadily responded, "He can have my air purifier from the living room." So Tyson plugged in the air purifier, and carefully angled it to blow clean air in the direction of the crib, so that it could supplement the ceiling fan in providing air circulation. We turned out the light, and made the long, arduous trek back to our side of the house.
We made our own preparations to retire for the night, and turned on the monitor. Glaringly bright lights leered at us, reminding us of our crime against our son. Tyson responded by taking the monitor into the kitchen, and a few minutes later, reappearing, having applied painter's tape over the lights. We tossed and turned, but eventually fell into a light sleep, always listening for any sound to come out of the monitor. At some point during the night, I felt Tyson climb back into bed, telling me "He's okay. He started to wake up, but he's falling back asleep." (The irony of being woken up to be reassured that someone else is asleep is not lost on me.) At 6:20 Monday morning, I once again walked the distance to Tyler's room, to discover him alive and well and still asleep. Cruelly, I woke him up to feed him so we could go to work.
Last night we repeated the ritual. I'm not sure that either of us slept much better. But Tyler did. Here it is, 6:27, and he's still asleep. And so I need to go wake him to feed him so we can go to work.
And the past two nights, Vader's slept, right by my side, on the floor.
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Sunday, July 18, 2010
Catching up...
We know we haven't been very timely in our posts, and the point of this blog was to keep everyone updated...I keep hearing that Tyler's feeding times will space out. So far, he's still eating every 2 hours during the day, although some afternoons/evenings, he wants to eat every hour. But it's worth it, since most nights he lets me sleep for a solid 6 hours.
People often ask me the following three questions: How is it going, bringing him to work? How's Vader adapting to the new arrival? And finally, how do we like the cloth diapers???
Bringing Tyler to work is still going great. We feel so blessed to have had this opportunity. It's a combination of the right job, and the right child. My co-workers have been very generous in their willingness to help out, including evacuating him during a fire drill, taking care of him while I've coordinated care during medical emergencies, and taking care of him while I confronted a "blackwater" situation (not the Haliburton type.) I will say, it takes absolutely every ounce of my energy to make it through the day, and by Saturday, all I want to do is sleep in, yet Tyler's still on the weekday schedule. Lately, Tyson's been working Saturdays, so it's been especially hard to get the cleaning done.
As for Vader, he never did like being the only dog in the household. For most of his life, he's had another dog living with him. When Dusty died in January, Vader was the saddest dog I've ever seen. Now, although he's as neurotic as ever, he does seem much happier, and is very eagerly awaiting the day Tyler will be old enough to be his playmate. (Heh heh heh, little does he know...) Vader checks on him first thing in the morning, when I first get home from work, and any time he cries.He loves to lick his arms and legs, and sniffs his ears and hair. So far, Tyler's mostly avoided eye contact with Vader, but just yesterday reached out to pet Vader and smile at him for the first time.
Vader was my lesson that "tabula rasa" is a fallacy. I now willingly accept that no matter what my intentions may be, reality doesn't always match up. And so, we arrive at sleeping arrangements.
Here is the beautiful crib we bought for Tyler, which Tyson put together in January:
And here is where Tyler really sleeps:
Yup, he's sleeping in a pack-n-play.
And here's Vader's cozy bed, donated by our wonderful friend Melanie:
And here's where Vader really sleeps:
That's right, he sleeps partially under the pack-n-play. And now that Tyler's too big to sleep in the bassinet portion of the pack-n-play, well, they're basically sleeping right next to each other, on the same level, with only a thin piece of mesh and vinyl between them.
The time is quickly coming for us to move Tyler into his own room for the night. We're warming him up to it by having him nap in his crib in the evenings. I guess we'll probably let Vader make his own decision about where to sleep. I wonder which room he'll choose?
And finally, cloth diapers. We love them. We use the BumGenius 3.0 One Size. They're adjustable, so right now Tyler's wearing them on the middle size. They look very similar to regular plastic diapers, except they're bulky and colorful. We used disposable diapers the week that we were in Virginia and were disappointed by how much they leaked compared to the cloth.We also have only had diaper rash once, so it's good in that department. We do have to wash them every other day, sometimes every day. Fortunately, our washing machine is very conveniently located, and line drying in the desert sun is quick, and bleaches out all the stains. As for stuffing the clean diapers, well, that's good mindless work to do while watching some television.
If someone were to ask my opinion, I'd highly recommend cloth diapering, for environmental, financial, and health reasons. But I'd say don't bother buying newborn size cloth diapers - we didn't use them for the first week because we didn't want the umbilical stump to stain the diapers, and then we couldn't use them for the second week, when we had to put vaseline on Tyler's circumcision site. By the time that healed, he was almost too big for them. Plus, plenty of people bought us newborn disposable diapers for our baby shower. So if I were to do it over again, I just would have used disposable diapers for the first couple of weeks, until he weighed 10lbs, then I'd have started using the One Size cloth diapers.
And that's my two cents on diapering.
People often ask me the following three questions: How is it going, bringing him to work? How's Vader adapting to the new arrival? And finally, how do we like the cloth diapers???
Bringing Tyler to work is still going great. We feel so blessed to have had this opportunity. It's a combination of the right job, and the right child. My co-workers have been very generous in their willingness to help out, including evacuating him during a fire drill, taking care of him while I've coordinated care during medical emergencies, and taking care of him while I confronted a "blackwater" situation (not the Haliburton type.) I will say, it takes absolutely every ounce of my energy to make it through the day, and by Saturday, all I want to do is sleep in, yet Tyler's still on the weekday schedule. Lately, Tyson's been working Saturdays, so it's been especially hard to get the cleaning done.
As for Vader, he never did like being the only dog in the household. For most of his life, he's had another dog living with him. When Dusty died in January, Vader was the saddest dog I've ever seen. Now, although he's as neurotic as ever, he does seem much happier, and is very eagerly awaiting the day Tyler will be old enough to be his playmate. (Heh heh heh, little does he know...) Vader checks on him first thing in the morning, when I first get home from work, and any time he cries.He loves to lick his arms and legs, and sniffs his ears and hair. So far, Tyler's mostly avoided eye contact with Vader, but just yesterday reached out to pet Vader and smile at him for the first time.
Vader was my lesson that "tabula rasa" is a fallacy. I now willingly accept that no matter what my intentions may be, reality doesn't always match up. And so, we arrive at sleeping arrangements.
Here is the beautiful crib we bought for Tyler, which Tyson put together in January:
And here is where Tyler really sleeps:
Yup, he's sleeping in a pack-n-play.
And here's Vader's cozy bed, donated by our wonderful friend Melanie:
And here's where Vader really sleeps:
That's right, he sleeps partially under the pack-n-play. And now that Tyler's too big to sleep in the bassinet portion of the pack-n-play, well, they're basically sleeping right next to each other, on the same level, with only a thin piece of mesh and vinyl between them.
The time is quickly coming for us to move Tyler into his own room for the night. We're warming him up to it by having him nap in his crib in the evenings. I guess we'll probably let Vader make his own decision about where to sleep. I wonder which room he'll choose?
And finally, cloth diapers. We love them. We use the BumGenius 3.0 One Size. They're adjustable, so right now Tyler's wearing them on the middle size. They look very similar to regular plastic diapers, except they're bulky and colorful. We used disposable diapers the week that we were in Virginia and were disappointed by how much they leaked compared to the cloth.We also have only had diaper rash once, so it's good in that department. We do have to wash them every other day, sometimes every day. Fortunately, our washing machine is very conveniently located, and line drying in the desert sun is quick, and bleaches out all the stains. As for stuffing the clean diapers, well, that's good mindless work to do while watching some television.
If someone were to ask my opinion, I'd highly recommend cloth diapering, for environmental, financial, and health reasons. But I'd say don't bother buying newborn size cloth diapers - we didn't use them for the first week because we didn't want the umbilical stump to stain the diapers, and then we couldn't use them for the second week, when we had to put vaseline on Tyler's circumcision site. By the time that healed, he was almost too big for them. Plus, plenty of people bought us newborn disposable diapers for our baby shower. So if I were to do it over again, I just would have used disposable diapers for the first couple of weeks, until he weighed 10lbs, then I'd have started using the One Size cloth diapers.
And that's my two cents on diapering.
Sunday, July 4, 2010
Nicole's Graduation!
At last, we come to the purpose of this vacation: to watch my beautiful niece Nicole graduate from high school. Nicole is my first niece, and I still remember the day she was born like it was yesterday. Here she is!
Nicole got ahold of Tyler right away, and definitely knew how to make him smile.
Tyler met his Uncle Eddie for the first time.I think Eddie was the most anxious person of all for Tyler to be born, based on the frequency of his text messages asking for updates...finally, they got to meet in person.
Tyler also met his Grandpa Glass for the first time.
We slept in Charlottesville Friday night, then returned the next day for the festivities. This isn't a flattering picture of any of us, but it's so rare to have three out of the four Glass kids in the same state, let alone the same photograph.
I've always wondered, what IS a Flying Fluco? Is it a bird or a fish? The question came up during the commencement speech, but the answer left alot to be desired.
Here's my wonderful niece, preparing to walk across the stage:
Nicole's friend and roommate, Brittany, also graduated.
After the ceremony, we went back to Eddie's house to celebrate.
Nicole's mom created this beautiful poster, documenting Nicole's life up until graduation. What a great idea! It was fun to look at the pictures, and brought back many memories for us. I hope to make something like this for Tyler on his graduation day.
Nicole's boyfriend stopped by for a while.
We also got to meet our newest niece, Jillian, for the first time. Jillian is Jennifer's daughter. Just look at those eyes!
Tyson actually got a few moments to sit and relax on the veranda, watching the rain.
Nicole got ahold of Tyler right away, and definitely knew how to make him smile.
Tyler met his Uncle Eddie for the first time.I think Eddie was the most anxious person of all for Tyler to be born, based on the frequency of his text messages asking for updates...finally, they got to meet in person.
Tyler also met his Grandpa Glass for the first time.
We slept in Charlottesville Friday night, then returned the next day for the festivities. This isn't a flattering picture of any of us, but it's so rare to have three out of the four Glass kids in the same state, let alone the same photograph.
I've always wondered, what IS a Flying Fluco? Is it a bird or a fish? The question came up during the commencement speech, but the answer left alot to be desired.
Here's my wonderful niece, preparing to walk across the stage:
Nicole's friend and roommate, Brittany, also graduated.
After the ceremony, we went back to Eddie's house to celebrate.
Nicole's mom created this beautiful poster, documenting Nicole's life up until graduation. What a great idea! It was fun to look at the pictures, and brought back many memories for us. I hope to make something like this for Tyler on his graduation day.
Nicole's boyfriend stopped by for a while.
We also got to meet our newest niece, Jillian, for the first time. Jillian is Jennifer's daughter. Just look at those eyes!
My Aunt Gaye and Uncle Wayne also attended. Here's a great picture of Aunt Gaye and Jonell together:
Nicole took a quiet moment to reflect...
Tyler got kisses from his cousin Jillian while Jennifer looks on.
Sometimes he liked it...
And sometimes not.
I love this profile shot of Eddie and Tyler.
Eventually, our nephew Mitch succumbed to Tyler's charms.
And although he wouldn't touch Tyler, we were honored that our nephew Matthew made an appearance.
Tyson actually got a few moments to sit and relax on the veranda, watching the rain.
Of course, it didn't last long.
Tyler spent some time with Uncle Wayne.
My mom got a chance to catch up with Aunt Gaye.
Here's Tyson's favorite picture of the day.
Tyler, if you ever want to know what your Great-Grandma K looked like, this is a pretty accurate representation. Just add some blush and bright pink lipstick...
Eddie and Nancy take a quiet moment to look through their girls' yearbook and reflect on the day.
My mom's been trying to get a family portrait of Tyson, Tyler and me, but the opportunity never seems to strike. Finally, here's a great one!
Oh wait, that's not me. Maybe next time...
Congratulations, Nicole! We're so excited for you!!!
Trip to Monticello
A few years ago, I took Tyson on a tour of Mt. Vernon, George Washington's home. So for this trip, I decided a tour of Monticello, home of Thomas Jefferson, was in order.
For this trip, we brought both the ring sling and the ergo. After much struggling, we finally got Tyson strapped up and Tyler packed into the ergo.
Yeah, that lasted abut 20 minutes...Although the temperature was only around 90 degrees, the humidity was brutal, especially for desert folk.
For this trip, we brought both the ring sling and the ergo. After much struggling, we finally got Tyson strapped up and Tyler packed into the ergo.
Yeah, that lasted abut 20 minutes...Although the temperature was only around 90 degrees, the humidity was brutal, especially for desert folk.
All that green is beautiful, but we concluded that we prefer the climate in Tucson.
Here's proof that I do still exist! Sadly, this is about as awake and well rested as I can be these days...
After the tour, Tyson took a moment to introduce Tyler to Thomas Jefferson.
All in all, we decided we liked Mt. Vernon much better. We'll have to take Tyler there someday when he's old enough to stay awake and actually see it.
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