Weekend Humungus

We had an incredible weekend.

Friday night Cissie and Kieren came to visit with friends. We have missed them SO much. All Cissie wanted was to see Ed Jr. and snuggle him and he was SO mean to her. He was exhausted from a week of daycare and would only let his mom hold him. He had to go to bed early, so we partied down without him. Of course I forgot to take photos.

Saturday we took off to go camping with the Moogs. Ed Jr. and Adrienne were born to camp. They both had so much fun, and were the MVPs of babies. They both took massive naps and played together so well. It was so nice and relaxing to hang out without having to worry about getting home at any certain time.

Sunday after we got home and Ed Jr. and mom napped and dad unpacked, we went over to Grandma and Grandpa's house and Ed Jr. got haircut #2! He looks so cute, somewhat more like a baby, but somewhat more like a little boy. He also got to eat some of his Grandma's sweet strawberries and play with Grandpa's puppies. It was hot, so we let him run around naked.

After that, we stopped by to see Cissie and Kieren one more time so they could see that Ed Jr. isn't a crying crabby hot mess. We hung out on Cissie's front lawn and played in their kiddie pool and drank beers just like we were in college ourselves. And of course I forgot to take photos.

Last night as I was downloading the 179 photos that WE DID take over the last week the computer crapped out AGAIN. This is after we bought an external hard drive and took off all of the old photos and music. Ug. This is in addition to our T.V. died. It is a bad day for electronics at the Colemans' house. I actually contemplated not replacing the T.V. until this fall, just to see if we could do it. Turns out we can't. Last night I was on the computer and poor Ed was just sitting on the couch watching me type asking me what I was doing. TV. critical. New computer too?

Silver Lining

It seems like lately all it is is whine fest U.S.A. Sorry.

Just know that Jr. is a fabulous little man who is so full of adventure and spunk. The other night we took him for a walk around the block, it has been our dream to do that with him since he was born. Of course I didn't have a camera, but I did catch some photos on my phone. MIL, FIL, if you get a phone with picture message capability, I could send you some. . . just sayin.

Today was Jr.'s 3rd day at daycare and the transition isn't going, well, awesome. BUT I don't think it is daycare's fault. It all started this weekend, he just quit sleeping. I had to let him cry it out one night. Uf duh. Ed was gone and he quit eating and sleeping. . .

Anyway, at daycare he isn't eating or sleeping ~max 30 minute nap. He does like all of the playing with the other kids. There are two 2-year olds there, Anabella and Elizabeth who are smaller than him, but are going to make sure he minds his ps and qs. Plus when we drop him off he seems pretty happy. Aimee said that he did okay for his first days. When we pick him up, he won't let me out of his sights.

I know that this week is going to be rough, but I have to say, it is going WAY better than I expected. He is still my sweetness and he is such a big boy and he is still pretty happy. . . I haven't ruined his life, yet.

And, okay, I just love this photo. Totally unrelated.

1st Day

Today is Jr.'s first day of daycare.

It was pretty awful leaving him there.

I keep repeating "He is SO ready for this."

Too bad I am not.

Will they snuggle him enough?

Will he eat?

Will he get enough to drink?

Why do I feel like I let him down, or that we are copping out?

Happy Fathers Day

Ed Jr. has the best dad ever. Thanks for being such a wonderful daddy.

(He looks a little crazed. He just finished running the 10K.)

Walking

This is not a good representation of his walking skills, but it is IMPOSSIBLE to catch him on video.



Guess you will all just have to come see him walk for yourselves. . . Ha!

Hank the Tank

So I am a little late on the ball on this one, but Henry Evett Roberts was born June 6, 2009 sometime in the early morning - say around 3:30 AM. I promised Jess that I would stop calling him Hank after he was born, but I just can't help myself. I have to say, he is one handsome little guy.

(photo courtesy of Jess' facedork page. . . hope you don't mind that I stole it.)

Hank entered the world in much the same way that Jr. did. Inhaled some merconium on the way out and landed in the NICU for about 3 days, but I am so thrilled to report he is perfectly healthy and home with his parents keeping them up all hours of the night.

I keep looking at photos of him trying to decide who he looks like, Jess or Ben and I have settled on a perfect combination of the two. Jr. and I are going to try to get down to Golden to see him this summer. I am a little nervous about flying, renting a car, driving through Denver, and trying to be helpful to Jess with Mr. Busy Guy. Maybe I can entice his dad to go with me, there will be a tour of the Coors brewery in it for him. . . Yummmm?

Anywho, congrats Jess, he is one handsome little devil and I can't wait to hold him and secretly smooch his head while you aren't looking.

Walking

He is officially walking. I will try to catch some photos today.

Walker Texas Ranger

Yesterday in my board meeting I got this text message "Jr. took 4 steps!"

He is that close. Here is a video we shot a few days ago. As you can see, he COULD walk if he wanted to, but clearly chooses the more effective mode of transportation, crawling.

C.I.O.

Cry. It. Out. and feel like the worst mother ever.

Jr. is going through a phase where he screws around for an hour when he is supposed to be going down for his nap. He will yawn, rub his eyes, so I go through the nap routine. . . new diaper, turn on the (miami) sound machine, close the blinds, wrap him in his blanket, sit down in the rocking chair, nurse and rock. This used to put him to sleep within a few minutes, 30 at the most, but last week he would not go down. The rocking/nursing would last for at least an hour. So I gave C.I.O. a try. I have tried every trick in the No Cry Sleep Soluting Book, and Jr. is one tough nut to crack.

40 minutes he cried. I hid in the basement holding the monitor listening to him. I can now easily tell the difference between the hurt, sad and angry cries. This was an angry cry, but I listened closely for a hurt or sad cry. I cleaned the bathroom and talked to all of my mom friends on the phone and my mom. To each of them I would announce, "I AM THE WORST MOM EVER!" Each of them would assure me that I wasn't. I even sent his dad a text message telling him what I was doing so he could come home and save his baby, or at least call the cops on me. He didn't. His text reply was "I luv u."

So 40 minutes, or an eternity in my perception, passed and he stopped crying. I let that go for 5 minutes before I busted through his door to make sure he hadn't died from neglect. He hadn't. He was sleeping face down sobbing in his sleep. I made some slight adjustments in his sleeping body and rubbed his back until the sleep sobbing stopped and then snuck back out. 20 minutes later he was awake crying. I rushed back upstairs and rocked/nursed him back to sleep.

As he gazed up at me with tears in his eyes, I heard his little baby voice say, "Who is sleep training who?"

Baby Coleman 1. Mama Coleman 0.

I got him back down and he slept for over an hour, but that is not the point. Why am I so bothered by C.I.O? I think it is this, I doubt it will work and that I just hate the thought of letting him be miserable for 40 minutes. I mean that is a serious long time. Baby light years.

I also have a deadline. He starts daycare in July. I seriously doubt Aunt Aimee (daycare lady) is going to put up with rocking him for an hour when she has 4 - 5 other kids to deal with. He is going to have to learn to put himself to sleep. Plus she called this morning saying that she could take Jr. starting on June 21. Yikes, I thought I had all of June to sleep train him. I was going to make his Aunt Nancy (his real aunt) let him C.I.O. for his afternoon nap the last two weeks of June in hopes that he would transition to daycare napping better. I guess we start today. Well, tomorrow at least. I had to cut his nails while he slept, so I had no choice other than to hold him and rock him until he was well asleep.

And, let's face it. He is not the best snuggler on the planet while he is awake, holding him while he dozes off to sleep, or after he is conked out is my sweet baby snuggle time. So yes, I do hold him too long after he is asleep, and yes, I am probably ruining his life by not teaching him to sleep on his own. So, maybe I am the worst mother ever.

Garden Boy

We are busy ripping out landscape mistakes of the past. Jr. is totally there to help us out every inch, every weed, every rock of the way.