When interacting with Caroline, Israel often says, almost in an expression of awe, "She is sooo PRECIOUS!!" This morning after he said that he added, "I think she is the most preciousest one we've had for ever and ever!!" After a little thought he added fondly, "Layla is pretty precious too..." :)
************
Tonight I took a quick trip into Walmart to pick up a prescription, and took an eager Zion along with me, as it was "his turn". I usually try to pick them up a little doodad when they come along to make it special, and Zion snatched up a cheap laser pointer matching his older brothers and a box of chewable Jolly Ranchers. As we came out of the store and began walking quickly to our vehicle, I felt the cold night air on my face , and looked down at my little Zion trotting along beside me in his green coat with the hood up, his treasures tucked close to his chest, and I felt his little hand slip into mine and hold on and I squeezed his hand and felt my love for him so intensely. I love to have him little. I'm going to miss his littleness and can hardly BELIEEEEVE that he is turning six this year. Even though he's not the baby, he is still the baby of the boys.
Zion calls Dorito's "Burritos", and tonight he informed everyone, "I'm going to get some more Burrito's," and then burst into a round of "Joy to the Burrito..." that his mama thoroughly enjoyed. His brothers were very disturbed at this misprounciation and hastened to chastise it with great displeasure ("Mom!! If he goes to school and calls them Burritos everyone will make fun of him...") while their mother shook her head at them and rolled her eyes and told them to lighten up. Seriously peoples around here.
*********
Caroline has been doing A.M.A.Z.I.N.G lately in terms of going to sleep and staying asleep. Tonight, though, she woke up at some point after I laid her down. I nursed her mostly back to sleep, but her eyes were open when I took her into the bedroom to put her back to bed, and she was kind of looking around. I thought, oh, she's up, and then had to lean in and kisskisskisskisskiss those sweet precious cheeks as she leaned her forehead tiredly against my face...and then her eyes drooped shut...and she fell fast asleep from her mommy kissing on her. Awwwwwwwww sugar baby......
********
Zion: (with bemused interest while gingerly feeling his nose) "When I put that clothespin on my nose it made water come out of my eyes!"
********
I haven't blogged in....errrmmm...FOREVER largely because I felt like there wasn't much to say there for a few months that didn't involve ragged looks, throwing hands up into the air, and scurrying away from clinging screaming two-year-olds. And rants about sleeplessness. Lots and lots and lots of rants about sleep interruptions. No worries. My mom got to hear all of it. ;) Poor mom ears...
For a few months, especially Caroline's bedtime was waaaaayyy skewed to late late late night/early morning for far, far too long, and at the same time, Layla went through this thing where after we would get her to sleep, she would wake up during the night and be out of her gourd and off her rocker and all that and screaming inconsolably with fury and rage a for a good hour and a half to two hours. And I would try the best I could to figure out what ON EARTH she was trying to communicate (things that included that she forgot to kiss the kitty cat goodnight or that she wanted to get out of bed) and then take care of the issue or deal with her fury when I denied her the option of getting up for the day at 4 AM and then I would lay in her bed with my eyes closed while she whaled away on me angrily...and then eventually it would all be over and she would be sweet and sleepy and cuddly and curl up next to me and go back to sleep. Two hours later. And then in the morning she would wake up and be all grouchy and clingy and during the day and then she also went through a stage where she would fight going to bed tooth and nail. So after getting to bed at 1 or 2 with Caroline, I was up for two hours in the middle of the night basically every single night for FOREVER with the two year old - not to even mention the baby, who, by the grace of God is (once she gets to sleep) a woooonderful sleeper who sleeps soundly and does not wake up easily. But you see how days and days and days of that run together along with the typical first-months-newborn-survival life make one sort of cross looking.
I honestly think a lot of Layla's waking has had to do with her having to pee in the middle of the night and not understanding the source of her discomfort. But gradually, for whatever reasons, this behavior has finally mostly stopped. Some nights she will sleep all night without waking enough for me to have to go in, or if I do have to, she often settles back to sleep pretty easily. And Caroline gradually, over a series of weeks, readjusted her sleeping schedule and now falls asleep around 8:30 or 9:00 PM.
No comments:
Post a Comment