A Rough Patch

We are going through a really rough time with Noah right now.  The kid refuses to sleep though the night and it is killing me very slowly and painfully.  We have finally found a routine to get him down at bedtime without a fight.  I will rub his back and then leave the door open and sit on the couch so he can see me.  That way he will fall asleep on his own without the direct presence of Hunter or me.  The problem is the little fiend will sleep for about 4 hours and then the fight begins.  

If I stay in his room until he is asleep he will wake up every hour and come and get me (one habit we are trying to break).  This means I am in his room waiting for him to fall asleep EVERY HOUR. Now, if I don't wait in his room for the heathen to fall back asleep, well, that is where the real problems begin.  

Let's take last night, for example. Noah woke up at 3:00am and I went and sat with him for 5 minutes until I thought he was pretty close to sleep.  Well, he wasn't.  I spent the next 2 1/2 hours trying everything I could the get him back to sleep without me sleeping in his room (the other habit we are trying to break).  Don't get me wrong.  I know we were in a really bad routine and it will take a while to break it and start a new one, I just didn't think he would break ME on the first night.  He refused to go back to his bed unless I took him and then refused to stay in bed unless I stayed there with him.  So, to break down what I tried, I tried rocking him, rubbing his back, talking sweet, talking stern, ignoring him (he just walked around my bed and cried for an hour except when he wedged himself between my bed and night stand and fell asleep for 10 minutes.  Boy was he mad when he woke up).  I tried telling him either go to his bed or sleep on my floor, sleep on the couch or living room.  I even tried shutting my door, but then had to spank him when he went into the backyard (TWICE!) when my door was shut.  Finally at 5:30 am, I begged him to sleep on my floor on a pillow and promised him a blanket if he would just go to sleep.  He did and then I cried myself to sleep.

OK, so what have I NOT thought of?  Any suggestions or advice?  We used to lock him in his room and he did well with that.  When he became more verbal and “aware” of the other options we weaned him off locking him in and he still did really great for a long while.  We can always go back to locking him in his room, but it just feels cruel now that he knows the difference and that he is older.  I don’t really want to scar or scare him.  I just want us all to finally get some sleep.  Have you been thorough the same thing and something has worked for you?  

First Bad Hair Cut

We normally have James’ friend Sean cut Noah’s hair and he does a really good job.  It always looks great and he is very gentle with the little guy.  It has been such a long time since Noah’s last hair cut (almost 3 months) I decided to act on my impulsive nature and go get his hair cut with Hunter’s lady.  I should have known it was a bad idea.  Hunter even admits the only reason he goes to her is because she washes his hair 4 times and he has been going there for so long.  Needless to say, it didn’t turn out well and I am pretty sure he will be scarred about hair cuts for quite a while.  I didn’t see what she did, she said it was just the cold of the scissors on his neck, but I can’t imagine Noah freaking out the way he did if it was just a cold object on his neck.  To make matters worse, the employees were trying to get him to stop going crazy so they took the electric razor and were pretending to cut a dinosaurs hair.  That freaked him out too.  Enough that when we were reading a book that night and I pretended to be a bee and buzzed and he grabbed his neck and said “boo boo”.  Why, oh why can I not learn the lesson to not act on my impulses?  

Thank God for the Dog!

It feels like the last few post have been about rough patches we have been going through. Well, here is another one... :-)

Since Noah was so sick last week (I am still trying to find the energy to blog about that one) we have a few bad habits to break. In order for him to eat or even feel a little better we were pretty lenient on things we are normally strict with. Now we are paying the price. Yesterday was an exercise in futility when it came to discipline. The child just wont listen to me or take me seriously. I get laughed at the whole time he sits in time out and when he does listen, he gets so mad he bangs his head. Yes, my child is a headbanger. He has a perpetual bruise on his forehead from hitting it on things (ON PURPOSE!). Anyways, to stay on subject, when I hit my limit (one of the times) I decided to take the trash out to the garage and stood in there for a few minutes taking deep breaths. Then, I heard a rattle and the little...gumdrop...locked me in the garage. I had no key, no cell phone and no shoes. Although I felt like kicking the door in, Noah's safety and Hunters furry made me stop. It all ends well though. I had just let Zoey back inside and it turns out I didn't lock the back door. Another lesson learned loud and clear!

99 Orange Balloons

Whenever we go to the grocery store, I like to get Noah a free balloon for being such a good little boy. Well, mostly because he’s good boy, but I also really like how he says “Balloon”. It is more like combining a “B” and “L” into one letter. SO CUTE! Anyways, a couple of weeks ago we got an orange one and he really liked it for some reason. After a week or so he seemed to get tired of it (not pointing and saying “BL” anymore) I decided it was time to pay it forward to the trash man and his family. Stupid Mommy, not thinking, grabbed the balloon (it was pretty small by then) and a pair of scissors and just snipped it… in front of Noah. The second I did it, I knew what an idiot I was. OMG, the TEARS! Noah was so upset. He kept running up to the counter and pointing up and got this pathetic, crushed look and would start to cry again. Poor little baby lost his best friend and I killed it. I don’t think he would have been more upset if it was Zoey I stabbed.

We hopped in the car, went back to Kroger and got a Blue one. The little guy was happy again and Mommy learned a valuable lesson: Kill balloons after bedtime.

Another Rough One

An Email from Noah's Grandma:

"Noah has what I assume to be his very first splinter in his hand. We went for a walk this morning and went to the park. I would guess that is where he got it as he tried to jump off the last step of the play set and took a header into the wood chips. When Grandpa comes in we may try to get it out."

Of course he did a header, he has NO FEAR! He also ended up banging his head countless times and by the time I got home he had a huge egg on his head. But, he was a brave boy when we pulled the splinter out. He had a rough day, but I think it ended up good.

Way Back When...

When Noah was about 6 months old we had to take him to the ER becasue he had a temperature over 102*. They didn't keep him over night, so we were very lucky and blessed. Here is a picture of our visit.

He was so brave!



Here are a few more pictures of around that time. If you can't tell, we just got some pictures off Hunters phone.


Not my favorite look, but the little boy looks so cute!



It is amazing how quickly they change in such a short amount of time!

What a temper on that one...

We have hit another "First" with Noah: Our first PUBLIC temper tantrum. Boy, was that fun (read: not so much...). The little guy has been sick for around 2 weeks with a sinus infection and then with Hand, Mouth and Foot (Hoof and Mouth as his Grandma calls it :-) ). Noah feeling under the weather PLUS the 5:00 hour = an extremely unhappy boy. The tantrum was nothing special in it self, except that it was in public. He screamed and cried, all while kicking his feet and throwing his arms up to be straight as an arrow, making it close to impossible to hold and try to calm him. I knew the public temper tantrum was coming sometime. I should have expected it then and been prepared, but you know what they say about hindsight. :-) Poor little guy, I know he was not feeling great, but I couldn't help but smile. You just gotta love that kid. Even during his temper tantrums with snot pouring out of his nose and huge crocodile tears, he is so darn cute.

Because You had a Bad Day

I have had my fair share of bad days in the past. The days where no matter what you do, it turns out bad. But when a bad day happens to a 13 month old, your bad days pale in comparison. You feel so bad for them and they just don’t understand why this is happening. The other day, Noah had one “those” days. It started with him getting so excited he ran straight into the crown molding on a door and got at huge egg and bruise on his head. It just went downhill from there. He stubbed his toe and made it bleed, his molars are coming through which not only created pain in his mouth and ears, it gave him a little fever and diarrhea, and he missed his nap. All of this, plus his acid reflux was back.

Well, needless to say, it was an early night (for all of our sanities). The next morning, our little boy was back and his normal happy self. It was one of those days where you really appreciate every other day. I am sure any mother would agree; I will take a bad day any time over Noah having another one.