S-U-C-C-E-S-S

My experiment worked! I got off work last night at 9pm, picked up Wyatt, went home and let him play and spent some time with him before brushing his gums (cause there's still no teeth), reading Goodnight Moon and putting him to bed.

He went right to sleep and stayed that way till 5am when he woke up wanting to eat. That's a solid 6+ hours! And with no screaming fit for me to survive. Plus once he ate, he went right back to sleep, though it was in my bed since I had to get up at 6:30am anyway, I figured he could sleep with mommy for an hour.

I'm so happy it worked and that he was a much happier baby. Tonight will be night 2 of the experiment and I'm hoping things will go just as smoothly. His fits are so rare and usually have such a specific reason behind them that this crying mess was really getting to me. It's nice to know that there is a reason he's in such a terrible mood some nights.

Let's hope this works from now on and I don't have to hit the drawing board again.

Anxiety

The last couple weeks have been hard as far as sleeping goes. Wy hasn't been doing much of it. And everyone kept telling me it must be teething...except I knew that wasn't the issue. Don't ask how, I just knew it wasn't a problem with the teeth that was keeping my little boy up.

The other night though, it dawned on me while I was trying to get him to eat a little and go back to sleep after a long day at work.

I work 10 hour days right now so that means the poor kid is at the sitter for almost 12 hours a day 4 days a week. Most nights when I get home, I'm starving and just want to eat and relax. And most nights he is already asleep when I pick him up or falls asleep in the car on the 5 minute drive home. It occurred to me that the nights he has his screaming fits are on the days that I have been gone at work and he only spends a little bit in the morning and right when we get home with me.

Seeing him take his bottle out of his mouth to cry and then stop when I came back to his room and continue eating while staring at me made me realize he just missed me! I did a little reading and asked my doc while I was there for an appointment for myself if kids his age already start to go through some separation anxiety. She told me yes it does happen and the reading I did agreed. She also told me she actually would let her son stay up a little later on days she worked to play and spend some time with her so he would sleep.

So I'm now anxious to see if letting Wy stay up and be with me for a while after getting home from work will help with the sleeping issues.

But it does make me feel good to know my baby loves me and just wants us to hang out. :)

Sleeeeeeeeeep

Why why why won't my child sleep!  He is so over tired and has had major meltdowns the last two nights.  I actually had to swaddle my nearly 7 month old son on Thursday night just to get him to calm down enough to take a bottle.  The poor thing had tears and snot all over his face and looked more miserable than I have seen him in a long time.  Last night was not as bad, but I still ended up bring him to bed with me around 3am.  He had woken up about every 2 hours before that to cry for about 20 min and the go back to sleep.  So at 3am with only 3 more hours of available sleeping time before I had to get up and get ready for work I gave in and let him sleep with me.

Now I know this isn't an issue of him not being able to sleep on his own.  He has always been able to sleep on his own.  After he was about 2 weeks old he had no issues sleeping and I mostly kept him in bed with me so it was easier to nurse him in the middle of the night.  And once he was sleeping through the night, he slept in his own bed.

I have to wonder if he is starting to teethe bad and that's what is keeping him up, but he seems fine during the day!

I'm praying we get some sleep tonight and tomorrow on our day off.

Gramma & Grandpa's Wedding

It finally happened!  My dad and Lori finally made it to their wedding day this past Sunday!!

Honestly I could not be happier for them.  It has been a very hard and emotional last 4 years for everyone involved, but them especially.  I can only imagine the pain of having marriages ended the way theirs were, but the fact that it is possible to still find love and safety in another person after all that is amazing.  They are such wonderful compliments for each other.  I could never say they complete each other because they have proven to be strong complete people on their own, but they are the perfect compliments for each other.  They make each other happy even through the hard times.

The wedding was beautiful.  The girls spent the night at a local hotel and we had a good time getting ready in the morning.  A friend of mine does hair so I had her come do Lori's at the hotel as my wedding gift to her...she was thinking about finding a salon to go to in the morning and I just wasn't about to let that happen.  Ashley did a great job and Lori was absolutely stunning in her dress.  Her girls and I helped her put on her jewelry for a photo op (Jami was the photographer) and we were all in tears.  Once we were all dressed and ready we headed over to the Mundelein Seminary for pictures.

Lori and my dad originally didn't want to see each other before the ceremony, but Jami and myself convinced them to agree to taking pictures before so it wouldn't feel rushed after the ceremony.  So Jami arranged for my dad to get to the site first so Lori could walk up and meet him and they could have a privet moment together.  Us kids, grandkids, maid of honor and best man all stood at the bottom of the stairs watching, most of us were crying.  It was an amazing moment to watch them see each other for the first time.  We took a whole bunch of family photos and I got to take a little walk with my 3 year old niece Lily.  She is just adorable.  :)

Once us kids were done with our part of the pictures we headed back to the church to help finish setting things up.  The happy couple saved a ton of money by doing a lot of the work themselves.  In fact the day before the wedding we all were at my dad's making kabobs for the reception.  It was a hoot to say the least.  So at the church we helped put the finishing touches on the reception decorations and waited for the bride and groom to show up.

Wyatt was fabu that day, he was so good.  By the end of the night he was way over tired and crashed hard in the car, but he got enough sleep before everything started to be in a pretty good mood the whole time.  He got passed around a lot and I really had to deal with the fact that when a baby is around not too many people care what the mom is doing.  But I better get used to it, it's only gonna get worse as he gets bigger and cuter!

The ceremony was wonderful, short and to the point, but still beautiful.  The four Rendall/Daniele children in attendance lit the unity candles and stood to give our blessing before the vows.  Liliana was the flower girl and pranced down the aisle throwing her flowers.  She had a little meltdown because she wanted to go play and couldn't but she just needed a nap and was fine after a family member took her inside.  Wy had no idea what was going on, but looked cute in his tux.

So things are all wrapped up now.  The bride and groom are off on their honeymoon, all the kids are back home and at work, the grandkids doing what they do.  I can't wait for them to get home so Wy and I can go visit.  I really want to make sure I am making an effort to see the grandparents that are close by at least once a month, even when he gets older.  It's good to have family.

And I'm happy that mine has grown.

Mother's Day

Today is Mother's Day! My second in fact, but I don't really count last year, so this is my official first! :)

Last year I was in such a weird place. I was just barely through my first trimester, I still wasn't feeling that great, I had just made the trek from Florida back home, I was working as much as I could at my part time job...I hadn't really accepted that I was a mom just yet. It didn't mean anything to me. In fact due to lots of morning sickness and my body type in general I wasn't even showing yet so there were times that I would wake up and not remember I was pregnant and think life was totally normal. Things were far from normal at that point!

But this year I got to spend the day with my favorite little man. He even gave me a great mom's day present! He slept through the night for the first time in weeks, I was beyond excited when he woke me up to eat and I realized it was light out. It was wonderful to spend a day just reveling in the fact that I am a mom now. I got to spend an afternoon with my most favorite mom, my bff Jami and my godson Riley. Who by the way is the most wonderful big brother to Wyatt. Ry just adores him and spent the afternoon trying to make him laugh.

It is amazing how much I love my little booger. He is the very best part of my life. It's hard to believe we have made it through the first 6 months already, but there is so much to look forward to in the future.

So here's a little tribute so a few of my FAVORITE momma's...including a couple momma's to be.