Banana Boy . . .

So, most mornings I make Riley and myself a fruit drink. Yesterday I put him in the bumbo, placed the blender canister by him and grabbed a banana off of the bunch. I held it up and said, "First we add a banana . . ." and peeled the banana broke it in half and put it in the canister. He smiled and kicked his legs because he loves bananas. Then I turned around and grabbed the spinach out of the fridge (if you haven't put spinach in your fruit drink before I encourage you to try it, you can't even tell it's in there). By the time I had turned around he had grabbed both halves of the banana out of the canister and taken a huge bite. Like I said, he loves bananas! My camera wasn't nearby, so I had to snap this picture with my phone. What a cutie!

Family Photos . . .

We had our family photos taken at Balboa Park a few weeks ago. Here is the link to our photo slideshow:

http://www.xavierbailey.com/data/slideshow/68/Bliss_Allen_April_2010/index.html

Enjoy!

Dear Moms . . .

Thank You!
Thank you for all that you've done for us and all you continue to do for us. Thank you for wiping our noses, bandaging our owies, and kissing our hurts all better. Thank you for potty training, sleep training, and teaching us to read. Thank you for letting us wear our blue hair to the grocery store, and our car shorts everyday until they were worn out beyond repair. Thank you for understanding how special we were in our own little ways. Thank you for continuing to love us even through our awkward middle school days. And for not protesting too hard against the crazy clothes, dyed hair and questionably good decisions of our high school years. Thank you for doing our laundry, making delicious dinners, and keeping a beautiful home. Thanks for teaching us how to really clean a bathroom and how to thoroughly mop the floor. Thanks for always being there to help us no matter what hard situations we got ourselves into. Thanks for having such a positive attitude and showing us how to really love and embrace life. Thank you for teaching us to love our siblings and to realize that they are our very best friends. We love you and our thought are with you today and always!
Your Favorite Kids,
Bliss & Gary
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Last Night . . .

We had a great night last night! Riley went to bed promptly at 7:00. He woke up several times throughout the night, but only for a minute or two and quickly soothed himself back to sleep. I did get up with him once at 5:00 AM. I had heard him wake up at 3:30 & 4:00 and again at 5:00, and I had convinced myself that he was probably hungry which was why he kept waking up. I nursed him and had him back to sleep by 5:15 and then he didn't get up for the day until 7:30.

For me, sleeping most of the night (from 10:00 until 5:00 and then again until 7:30) was Divine! I know I should have done this earlier, but I really wasn't ready until now. And it is a little embarrassing that I complained and complained about being so sleep deprived, but I was the one standing in the way of it the entire time. Oh, well, live and learn, I guess! Anyway, I am so happy and relieved that the process has been so painless.

Here's looking forward to a full night's sleep tonight for everyone. Happy Mother's Day to me!!

Extinction Burst . . .

Last night was pretty great, except for the 30 minutes of absolute screaming that happened at midnight. I've come to believe that my neighbors are either night owls, or deaf because I didn't get any upset knocking on my door last night. I don't think Riley couldn't have howled any louder! I must be getting hardened against the crying though, because I fell asleep in the middle of his cry-fest. Here is how our night went:

Down for bed at 8:00

woke at 10:37 - I let him cry himself back to sleep

asleep by 10:42

woke at 11:58 - I comforted him and told him it was Sleepytime, then laid him back down in his bed and the screaming began

I believe he went back to sleep around 12:30-ish

woke at 3:24 - My goal was to have him go 6 hours without nursing, but he went 7 1/2! He nursed until 3:39

woke for the day at 7:20

Not bad! I am interested to see what happens tonight. I think that I am going to try not nursing him at all tonight. We are going to load up on dinner, and nurse a lot before getting ready for bed. I think he and I are both ready to really take the plunge!

Wish us luck!

WWAAAAAHHHH!!! . . . . . . zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Last night was . . . Awesome! Here is how it went:

Down for bed at 8:20

Woke at 10:08 (because the dog barked, argh!!)

I went into his room, picked him up and rocked him and told him it was Sleepytime. Laid him back down in bed and of course he absolutely screamed his head off for a full . . . 2 minutes! I had to stop and really listen because I couldn't believe what I wasn't hearing! Amazing!

He woke again at 12:35. I repeated what I did last time and he was back to sleep by 12:38. Three minutes! Seriously?! This is so cool!

Woke again at 1:38. This time I nursed him and he was back in bed, asleep and full, by 1:55.

Woke again at 4:55, and was back to sleep by 5:00.

I mean, Riley still woke up 4 times, and I honestly think that if I had let him cry just a minute or two longer a couple of those times he might have put himself back to bed, but this was better than I even hoped for. One interesting tidbit, when I told him it was Sleepytime I could feel his body relax for a beat and he would yawn and lay his head on my shoulder, but almost immediately after that he would sit up and start shifting around, almost as if he wanted to find a more comfortable place to go back to sleep.

I am actually looking forward to tonight!

In the book "Sleeping through the Night" the author talks about something called an "Extinction Burst", which means that sometimes they will cry longer the next night, just to make sure that you are serious. But then, the third night the crying will decrease significantly. However, I would like to think there is a good possibility that we might repeat or improve on what happened last night and avoid the Extinction Burst altogether. I feel like I just need to give him another minute or two to try to soothe himself back to sleep before coming into his room. He wants to sleep, and if feels like he kind of understood what he was supposed to be doing. He just needs a little bit more coaching.

My perfect Mother's Day gift was to be able to sleep through the night, just for one night. Maybe I'll actually get what I was hoping for and a whole lot more! Woohoo!!

The Plan (part 2) . . .

Okay, so tonight might be interesting. Gary and I had ourselves a date night and when we got home Riley was not in bed. Our babysitter tried to get him to go to sleep, but I think she secretly didn't mind keeping him up, hanging out with him, and reading him tons of books! I actually feel the same way, so I completely understand! I ended up getting him down at 8:20, an hour later than usual. He did take his two naps today, but they were a bit shorter than I would have liked. I am mentally preparing myself for the worst, but really hoping that things will go as smoothly as they did last night.

Here is the plan:

Tonight Riley will have to go 5 hours between nursings. Which means that the next time I will nurse him will be at 1:20 and then he can eat again at 6:20. If he wakes up before 1:20 I will go in his room and remind him that it is "Sleepy-time" and try to comfort him. If he is still crying after 10 minutes, then I will leave his room and he can cry until he falls asleep. In my experience, he usually cries no longer than 20-30 minutes before falling asleep, which I am mentally preparing myself to handle. Even though I got more sleep last night that I have had in a long time for some reason I was exhausted today, which makes me feel a little more sensitive. It might be a night full of tears for everyone, who knows? Then again, it could be fantastic! He often surprises me with how amazing he is.

Wish me luck!!