Brody's New Bed - Days/Nights 4-6

Thursday, April 19th was the 4th day of Brody transitioning to his new bed. During his nap that day I put him to bed awake and he watched me walk out. He started crying and got out of his bed again. He fell asleep on the floor... again! I went back and put him in his crib. That night, Kyle put him to bed. He rocked him and Brody ended up falling asleep. Kyle tried to lay him down without waking him up, but when Kyle put him down he woke up and started crying. He got out of his crib, but did not bang on the door this time! He did, however, fall asleep by the door again. I went in and put him back to bed. He fell asleep and I tried to sneak out but, once again, the door creaked and he woke up, climbed out, and went right to the door and started banging on it. I went back in and calmed him down until he fell asleep again. Try #2 to sneak out failed again because he woke up as I closed the door. I said through the door "Brody, go to bed! Go lay down. You're going to get a spanking." I know that some people are against spanking, and this isn't the time to debate that. We don't "beat" our child, but we do swat his thighs when needed. He continued to cry and bang on the door. I went in and said "No, Sir, it's bed time. Go lay down." and put him to bed. I walked out and he went straight back to the door and started banging again. I opened the door and spanked him and put him in bed. I didn't want to spank him and have him have a negative opinion of bedtime, but I threatened and needed to follow through. I started to walk to the door and he sat up. I told him to lay down or he would get another spanking. He didn't and I took a step towards him and he laid down. I started to walk back to the door and he got up again! This time he started to climb out of his bed. I said "No, Sir. Stay in bed or you'll get a spanking." He got down so I spanked him again and put him back into bed. :( I told him it was night-night time and to go to sleep and stay in his crib. I left the room and was going to wait outside for him to get back out of his crib, but he didn't. He sat up and sobbed for a minute or two and then laid down and fell asleep. This night was rough and bedtime seemed to be getting worse and worse! Why did we take his crib rail down?!

On Friday, I started his nap time at 2:00pm. I rocked him for a while and then put him down. He started screaming and banging on the door. He usually doesn't bang on the door at nap time, just bed time. So, great, it really is getting worse! I went back in and tried to calm him down and he wouldn't even let me put him in the crib! He wanted me to hold him. So I did for a while, and laid with him in his crib, and sat next to the crib rail. It took me until 2:48 to get him to sleep and for me to sneak out. It never took more than 5 minutes to put him to bed with the original crib rail up. Ugh. 

After that rough nap time, I got on my September 2010 forum with mom's who had babies due in Sept 2010 and asked for their help. One mom said to just let him sleep on the floor. I was so worried that he wouldn't sleep through the night, but I decided we had to try something! If Brody got out of bed and fell asleep on the floor again, that's where he was staying! I didn't want him to get into the habit of crying and mommy and daddy going in every time and sitting there until he fell asleep. No!! I know he can put himself to sleep! 

That night, Kyle put him to bed. He rocked him until he fell asleep (something he seems to be doing and I'm hoping doesn't start a bad habit!). When he laid him down he woke up. Kyle walked out and of course Brody went straight to the door banging and screaming. Kyle seemed frustrated and asked what he should do. I said absolutely nothing! We were going to see how this would go without us going in to calm him down. He ended up falling asleep on the floor. I left him there and he ended up staying there and sleeping ALL NIGHT! I heard him wake up once and whine, but that was it. He was out of the view of the video monitor so I couldn't see him all night which made me sad since I'm so used to being able to push a button and see him on the screen whenever I want. Around 8am Kyle woke up and started frantically getting dressed and ran out of the room. He came back and said "Do you hear that?" I listened for a moment and heard banging. I said, "Yeah, it's Brody banging on his door." I got up and walked out of our bedroom and Kyle said "What IS that?" I said, "It's Brody!" He said he didn't think so. I went to Brody's door and heard him kicking the door. He often did this when he would wake up in his crib - he would lay there and kick the rails of his crib talking to himself. Since that morning he had woken up by the door he just kicked the door instead. I walked in and he was all smiles. :) Turns out, Kyle had gotten a call at 5am that he missed. When he heard the banging and saw he had a missed call he thought somebody was banging on our door trying to get a hold of him. After checking the door and finding nobody there, he thought somebody was going by all the windows in our house and banging on them to get our attention. As we found out, it was just Brody, and the 5am call was an accident. What a morning! 

On Saturday, we took a trip down to Northport to visit Grandma and Pap Pap. I took my left over ham down and my mother and I made split pea and ham soup. For Brody's nap that day, he would be in a pack n' play in one of my mom's spare rooms. He usually doesn't mind this much and goes to bed fairly easily. I rocked him for only a few minutes. I probably should have rocked him until he was drowsy, because I don't think he was tired yet. As soon as I stood up to put him into his bed he started crying. Not good. I put him down and left the room. He SCREAMED! I went downstairs and gave the monitor to Kyle, thinking he would stop crying and fall asleep. After a few minutes I could still hear him crying so I checked on him on the monitor. He was in the corner so I couldn't really see him, but I thought I heard him crying for his blanket. I went up and opened the door and he had dropped (or thrown, who knows?) his blanket on the floor outside of the pack n' play. I gave it back to him and he asked for me to pick him up. I held him for a while and I think he fell asleep on my shoulder. I put him down and he resumed screaming. I tried to hush him and tell him I was right there, but he kept screaming. He eventually stopped and I stayed until he fell asleep, but the door to the room he was sleeping in creaked louder than his door so he heard me leave and resumed screaming. I stayed outside of the door and thought I heard him crying for his blanket again. I opened the door and it was on the floor so I gave it back. He reached for me and said "up", but I just handed him the blanket, shook my head, and left the room. He cried for a little while, but eventually fell asleep. 

That night, Kyle put him to bed. He, again, rocked him until he fell asleep. He put him down and, again, he woke up. Kyle laid him down, covered him up, then left the room. Brody got out of bed and went to the door and cried, but didn't bang on the door and didn't cry for mommy and daddy. Not long after Kyle left, Brody fell asleep on the floor by the door. He woke up, happy :), a little before 8am after spending another night on the floor. 

Brody's New Bed - Days/Nights 1-3

On Monday, April 16th, we decided to take the front rail off of Brody's bed and replace it with a smaller bed rail where he could get in and out of his crib all by himself. Our idea was to get him used to the freedom before Karlee gets here and needs the crib and he gets moved to his queen-sized bed. Brody loved his crib and always went to sleep so easily. We could put him down drowsy and walk out and he might whimper or cry, but by the time we were down the stairs (in Cleveland) or down the hallway (in Jasper), he'd be done and put himself to sleep. He slept great and had not tried to climb out yet. I'm thinking if I had to go back and do it again, I would just have waited until I felt he was more ready and just bought Karlee her own crib to sleep in! But, that's not what we did, so I'm trying to make it work. These next few posts are probably not going to be interesting to anybody unless you have gone through this before or are a new parent and wondering how you'll do this with your children in the future. I'm writing these posts more for me to remember and look back on to see what worked and what didn't and what I might do differently when it's time for Karlee to transition out of the crib. Here is what  his "new bed" looks like.

Here is what we started with. 

Front rail taken off. Brody seems to like it. 

New crib rail up. 

Brody, checking out the final product. 

On Monday, we needed to run to Walmart to get some groceries. We took Brody and on the way home he fell asleep. When we got home it was 1pm and he usually takes his nap between 1pm and 2pm. I was not thinking he'd fall asleep before he had even eaten lunch! He usually snacks the whole time we're in Walmart anyway, so I wasn't too worried about putting him to bed with an "empty stomach." Kyle got him out of his car seat and into the house and he didn't budge! So we put him straight to bed. If this nap was a view of what was to come, this new bed thing was going to be a breeze! He was so asleep we even decided to take a picture (with Kyle's phone) with the flash on! Off to a good start!

That night, Kyle put Brody to bed. He rocked him for a while and put him to bed like normal. He cried a little, but stayed in his bed.  He woke up at 4am crying. I went in to calm him down and try to put him back to sleep. When we have to go in the middle of the night (rare), we usually have to stay in there until Brody falls asleep and then sneak out. He'll lay down, but keep checking to make sure we're still there. I stayed in his room trying to get him to fall back to sleep from 4am-4:30am. I thought he had fallen asleep and tried to sneak out, but the door creaked and he woke up screaming. Kyle went in there to see what he could do. He stayed in there from 4:30am-5:30am. He tried laying on the floor with Brody laying on his chest and also sitting next to the crib while Brody tried to fall asleep. He also thought Brody had fallen asleep and tried to leave. Nope! He got out of his bed and proceeded to BANG on the door and scream. I said "No, Sir!" and put him back to bed and left the room. I watched on the video monitor as he got out of bed, but then got back in and slept until 11 am!! I guess being up all night made him tired!! What happened to our wonderful and perfect nap earlier?!

Now on to Tuesday. For his nap I decided to try not rocking him and just putting him in his bed. This worked and he stayed in his bed and fell asleep. Great! 

Now for night-time! Kyle put him to bed again. When Kyle left the room he climbed out and banged on the door. Kyle decided to go back in and stay until he fell asleep. He was able to sneak out without Brody waking up. At 2:50am I heard noise on the video monitor and saw that Brody was out of his crib. He climbed right back in, but I saw that he didn't have his paci. He moved his blankets around looking for it. He then stood up to get the spare that we keep on the crib rail for such instances. He sat back down and moved his blankets some more. He found the original paci, switched that out for the one he had, and fell back to sleep. He woke up around 8:30am. 

Day #3. On Wednesday when I tried to put him down for a nap he climbed right out immediately! He fell asleep on the floor (I assumed because I couldn't see him on the video monitor). I went in and it didn't even wake him up... so I grabbed the camera! I took some pictures before putting him back in his crib to sleep the rest of his nap. 

Wednesday night, I put him to bed. I walked out and he climbed out and started banging on the door crying for mom and dad. I stayed outside the door and told him "No, Sir. It's night-night time. Go to bed." He continued to cry so I went in and put him back in his bed. He cried and went right back to banging on the door. He fell asleep at the door. I was worried that he wouldn't sleep all night and we'd all have a bad night if he slept on the floor and not in his crib, so I went to put him back in his bed. I had to push on the door to wake him up because he was sleeping right up against the door. He woke up and stood up and asked to be held. How could I say no?! I held him for a few minutes until he calmed down. I put him down and tried to walk out. He stood up in his crib and cried with his arms out for me to hold him. I hugged him instead and laid him down. I stayed in there until he fell asleep and snuck out. Not starting a good habit there!! He slept until 8:30am.

27 Weeks - Glucose Test

On April 10, I traveled up to St. Vincent's in Birmingham by myself for my glucose test. I was sad to have to go by myself, but it said on the directions sheet the doctor gave me at my last appointment to make appropriate childcare arrangements. I wouldn't have wanted to make Brody sit there waiting for me anyway. My appointment was at 10:30 and I got there around 10am. I turned into the first building where my doctor is and the parking garage was full. I had only ever been to the first building and I had no idea what to do next! The car in front of me did the same thing, so I decided to follow her and see where she went. We went passed the second building and a guy was just putting out a "full" sign in front of the entrance to that building's parking garage. The person in front of me rolled down her window and asked something and the guy just pointed to the right. So, we kept driving... Building number three's parking garage was open. I found a place to park, but now I needed to figure out how to get into the building, back onto the street, and to the first building where my doctor was. By myself :( I walked into the building and went into the first office I could find which turned out to be a pediatrician's office. I told her where I needed to be and she seemed surprised that I was so far from where I needed to be. I explained that the 2 prior parking garages were closed and she seemed to understand and told me the quickest way to get back to where I needed to be. I had to take 2 sets of elevators, walk down hallways, walk outside, down a hill, across 2 streets, and finally into the building where I needed to be. It doesn't matter how early I get there I can NEVER get to my appointment on time!! It's crazy! It took us 30 minutes to figure out how to get from the parking lot, into the building, find the elevators, and figure out which floor my doctor was on the first time we had an appointment there.

I finally made it to my appointment and was told what to do. I went back and waited for my name to be called. The waiting area was so full there was barely any seats left and people were standing up against the wall. My appointments are always on Tuesdays at 10:30 and it had never been that way before! I got called back to where they draw blood and was told to sit down. The lady opened up the glucose drink and poured the amount she needed me to drink into a styrofoam cup (I think the cup was 1/4 full). She told me I had 5 minutes to drink it. I don't think it even took me one. She then told me that I would go back to the waiting area and wait on my doctor's nurse to call me back. I would then get weighed and get my blood pressure checked and wait to see my doctor. She told me when I was done seeing my doctor I should make my next appointment, go back out into the waiting room, wait for the time I needed to go back to get my blood checked, and walk back and get my blood drawn. I was called back by my nurse, got everything weighed and checked and waited on my doctor. She came in and measured my belly and checked Karlee's heart rate. I think it was in the low 150s (but higher than normal). She asked if I was getting my sugar tested and I said yes. Her reaction showed that that must be the reason her heart rate was higher than normal. :) She then asked if I had any questions. I had asked her if she knew how much weight I had gained. Since she wasn't my doctor the whole time I was pregnant she didn't know if she had my starting weight to go on. She looked back through the records my other doctor gave her and figured out I was 122 when I got pregnant with Karlee. That day I was 134 which means I had gained 12 pounds. She said that was a good (but minimal) weight gain. I had gained 30 pounds with Brody. We'll see if Karlee matches up in the end. :)

I then went and made my next appointment - for 3 weeks later so I'd be 30 weeks and then I'll start going every 2 weeks. I then had to wait for my time to get my blood checked. That was not fun. I played all my games I had going on Draw Something and I checked Facebook. I was very bored. The time finally came to get my blood tested. The last time I had my glucose tested (in Chattanooga) I drank the drink in the ultrasound room and then got an ultrasound while I waited... Oh how I miss Dr. Childs!! Also, I had my blood actually drawn. This time, all they did was prick my finger which was nice! She put it in one of those testers like people with diabetes use and a few seconds later it beeped with the number 136. She told me I passed. Whew! I then had to go down all the many hallways, elevators, cross streets, walk up hills, and find my car.

I always had Kyle with me when I'd drive home so he'd tell me which exits to take to get back home. I told him I'd get lost without him there with me. He had perfect confidence that I would not. On my drive up I made sure to check all the exit numbers so I'd know them coming back home. Little did I know that the exits coming home didn't show the numbers!! What?! So, of course, I get lost and can't get a hold of Kyle to help me get home. I called my mom and she got on mapquest and helped me get home. How sad is that?! Kyle isn't allowed to not come to my appointments ever again! I'm bad luck when I'm alone!

Brody Meets Some Baby Chicks!

On Monday, April 9th, Larry and Bonnie Edwards invited us to their farm where they had hatched around 30 baby chicks for Easter. They wanted to let Brody run around with them and to get some pictures. When we pulled up their two dogs came to greet us. Brody was so excited to play with those dogs. He didn't even know what was yet to come! Larry and Bonnie came out to greet us and showed us to where they were keeping the chicks. Brody had already seen some baby chicks at Tractor Supply and was so excited when he realized what was in the styrofoam box! Mr. Larry took the box outside and dumped the chicks out. Brody wasn't scared at all. He went right up to them and tried to pick one up!

He got one!

Mr. Larry tried to show Brody how to correctly hold a chick. 

We picked one up for him and put it in his hand. 

He clung on to the baby chick's leg. 

The chick tried to get away and we had to make Brody

let go of his leg! 

He abandoned the chicks when the dog came around! 

He tried to give her kisses!

This boy loves his dogs!

Making the "duck face" to the chickens. 

Signing "chicken." 

Like Father, like son!

I love these next pictures with him laughing!

Mr. Larry took us to see his calf and horses. 

Brody wasn't too happy being on the back of the horse. 

I think he was looking at the calf and 

signing "cow" in this picture.

Next, we checked out his hog.

(who was going to be killed the next day for sausage)

He got his kisses!

Brody took the tractor for a spin before we went home. 

Third Trimester!

On Friday, April 6, I began my third trimester! Just 13 weeks to go! It was also the first day I felt Karlee have the hiccups! (The only other time I have felt them so far was today, 4/16/12) I'm still feeling great! A lot of people I know that are pregnant have been going into early labor. It makes me nervous! Karlee seems to be comfortable though! Which is good for both Mommy and Baby! She is still moving a TON all the time. I show Kyle my belly moving everywhere at night. Little does he know she does this all day, I just don't say anything :) My niece, Haley, always asks if Karlee has kicked me and I always say that she's constantly kicking me! I love that my babies are movers. :) I wouldn't have it any other way. I love being pregnant. I have very easy pregnancies - no morning sickness or cramps. I didn't really start to get uncomfortable with Brody until the last week or two. It makes me nervous thinking that in a few short weeks I won't be getting the sleep I get now with my sweet boy that takes a 2 hour nap during the day and sleeps all night long. But, those short few months of no sleep with definitely be worth it!

Easter 2012

A few days before Easter we had realized that we still hadn't gotten Brody's picture taken with the Easter Bunny! We drove over to the mall and walked around a bit to get Brody comfortable. He saw the Easter Bunny and was waving and saying "hi!" so we decided to get in line. There were two kids in front of us. One little girl was already on his lap getting her picture made and then there was a tiny little baby boy in front of us. While the little boy was getting his picture made, Brody kept trying to get under the ropes to see the Easter Bunny and kept waving. Finally, it was our turn. My plan was to carry Brody up to the bunny and let him say "Hi" and then place him in the bunny's lap. The bunny had other ideas. As soon as I walked up to the bunny, the bunny got up out of his chair and grabbed Brody from me! I wasn't expecting it and it shocked me, well, it totally didn't work for Brody! He didn't like that at all!!! So, we left with a crying picture, which is fine because it's a memory and that's what we were going for anyway. I was the mean mom and after I "saved" Brody from the Easter Bunny, while he was still crying, I told him to say "Thank You" to the bunny. He did and we went to find Daddy and wait for the pictures to print out. He would not let me put him down! He wouldn't even go to his Daddy, which is a big deal! The poor bunny really messed Brody up for a while. We decided to treat ourselves to lunch at the mall so we got some Chick fil A. Brody was fine after that and even went back to walking near where the bunny was and waving at him. Sweet boy :)

We had a great time celebrating Easter this year! We started the weekend by spending Saturday at my mom and dad's house. David, Kim, and Haley came over too and we had an early Easter dinner with family that night. Haley and Brody (for a little while) dyed Easter eggs. Brody only dyed two I think. He wrote on them with the white crayon and put them in the dye, but kept wanting to stick his hands in the dye. We let him down and let him play with Daddy instead. :) Haley and I dyed the rest of them. I wish I had gotten some pictures of this day.

After dying Easter eggs we played and played and played! We got out baseballs, tees, bats, sidewalk chalk, spray bottles, and squirt guns! What a fun day! My mom baked a ham, scalloped potatoes, broccoli (yum! One of my favorites!), corn (Brody's favorite), and rolls. Then we had a red velvet cake roll for dessert. 

On Sunday, we woke up and went to worship. When we got home we let Brody get into his Easter basket before his nap. We got him a squirt gun and some candy. I'm thinking this will be the last year we can shop for Easter with Brody in the cart with us! Jema was able to be with us this Easter and she gave Brody an Easter basket full of goodies as well. That night, Kacy joined us for Easter dinner. This was the first time I had ever cooked a ham. I think it turned out well. I also made ranch potatoes (yum!), corn (cause I love my little boy), and rolls. I also made a chocolate peanut-butter cake from scratch. It was rich, but super yummy! We usually don't eat a lot of sweets so we'll eat a dessert I make for a few days and then it sits there until it goes bad and I throw it away. This time the cake didn't last many days! We had a great Easter weekend! 

Jeanny took some great Easter pictures for us Sunday morning. 

We didn't get him a lot, but I think he was happy! 

Easter dinner :)

I let Kyle pick the dessert for Easter. He wanted a peanut butter cake.

This was the one I found. It was gooooood! 

The glaze was really thick and I probably wouldn't put it all 

on when/if I made this cake again. 

Here is the website with the recipe of the Chocolate Peanut Butter Cake (and what it's supposed to look like) :)

http://cheeseandchoco.blogspot.co.uk/2012/02/chocolate-peanut-butter-celebration.html