Boot Camp Success

No, I have not lost 20 pounds (though I should) at weight loss boot camp... but Blake is making progress at sleep boot camp! This week, Brandon and I have been sleeping on our sectional sofa in the den while Blake slept in our room with the door shut so he could cry it out. It is amazing what a shut door and some earplugs can do! Please don't think I am a horrible mom for letting him cry- I was being a much worse mom when I was moody and exhausted.
The first night, he cried off and on all night long. I finally fed him at 4 because he is so used to eating every 3 to 4 hours, and I didn't want him to go too far. Most of the night, he would put himself back to sleep eventually, so I knew he wasn't hungry. He just wanted to be held!
The second night he cried once around 12:45, but I told myself I would go get him if he was still crying at 1. He stopped crying at 12:56! I fed him again around 4, then he slept til 8:30 the next morning.
The third night, he went to bed at 8 and did not wake up until 4:15.
Last night, we put him to bed a little later than usual, but he went down at 10 and slept until 5:15 this morning and then went back down until 8:30!
It is awful to hear them cry, but it works! Poor Blake is even a little hoarse. It physically hurts to hear them cry, but it is so rewarding to have them on a good sleep schedule that makes everyone happier. They just have to learn to soothe themselves back to sleep. Now we just have to figure out what to do about getting back into our bed. I think we can put him down early and then creep into bed later or we may put his cradle in the den. I just am praying that he can keep this new habit up... it makes such a difference in all of our days! I love that he is so much happier after he sleeps well too. I think it is amazing that the earlier babies go to bed, the better they sleep. Anyway, I just wanted to update you on his progress and let you know that I may just keep my sanity afterall.

Important Dates

This post is mostly for family to keep up with our busy lives (since we don't always have time to call). This is going to be a busy season for our family! Coming up in the Slagley house:
March 9th- Brandon's birthday :)
March 19th- Match Day (where Brandon opens an envelope telling where we will be going for residency after a computer match-up process) This is a pretty big event that lots of family usually attends
March 22nd- Kate and Blake are both getting baptized at Briarwood at the 10:55 service
May 17th- Brandon's graduation!!!! 1 PM at the BJCC (civic center)
May 31st-June 13th- Brandon is going to the Dominican Republic on a medical mission trip. The kids and I are hoping to go to the beach while he is gone- life is always a little easier at the beach, isn't it?

We wanted to say a special hello to Grandpa Slagley- we hope you feel better, we are so glad you are home from the hospital! We hope you can get your strength up so you can enjoy some of these special events with us! (Those are soon to be Dr. Slagley's orders!)

New Blog is Up and Running...

I started working on it a few weeks ago and I got a little side-tracked (imagine that), but I got some time to finish a few posts and get my sewing blog up and running!
Check it out at www.slagsrags.blogspot.com .

Not Always Perfect

The other morning at Bible study, we were talking about how tempting it is to be jealous of other people and their lives just by how great they sound on their blogs. People usually put their best foot forward on blogs, whether it is to impress others or just not to keep a record of the bad things. In my mind, I tend to remember the bad things I hear and see more than the sweet stuff (I know- it is an awful trait), so I don't really want others to always remember the bad things about me or my family. Even if I put up cute pictures and tell cute stories about the kids or Brandon, let me be CLEAR: my life is not always fun!
For example: Brandon and I are in Atlanta right now because he is taking the final step of his boards exams before graduation. He asked if I would come along for the trip to "get a break." Let me set it up for you, it sounds great!
Kate is with my sister during the day and my parents at night.
Brandon and I did Priceline to find a cheap place to stay, and we got a really nice suite for $50 a night!!! We couldn't believe they accepted that price, we should be paying closer to $200 a night!
We took Blake with us because I am still nursing him, and he is pretty easy to just take with you wherever you go.
I brought books to read and a dress for Kate and bubble suit for Blake that I have pleated and are ready to be smocked.
We get to the hotel and the lady at the front desk extends our checkout time to 5 pm for no extra charge because we weren't sure when Brandon would be done and she didn't want me and Blake to have to hang out in the lobby waiting on him.
Our room is super nice- the suite has a full office area, kitchenette, very large bathroom with separations from the shower, tub and vanity areas, french doors into the bedroom from the living room, flat screen tv, etc.
We ordered a yummy meal last night that I can eat the leftovers for lunch while Brandon is gone.
Fast forward to 9:30- Blake is screaming his brains out! He has not been sleeping well for the past week or so, but I thought it was just a growth spurt or something that would pass in a night or two. NOT SO- he screamed and screamed and screamed. I put him to bed and his eyes were so red and heavy, but right when I would lay him down- screaming! He finally fell asleep and I was thrilled to get in this extra fluffy king size bed that feels like a piece of heaven.
12- screaming, screaming, and more screaming. I finally just fed him, which I hate to do at night when it has not been even 3 hours because it starts such bad habits. (Disclaimer- Blake is almost 4 months old and my pediatrician even agrees that he needs to be going longer than that at night, but a little baby absolutely needs to eat that often.) I laid him down- screaming.
3- screaming again! I tried to let him cry it out, but I heard my neighbor in the room next door slam her door, so I thought she didn't want to hear a screaming baby- so I fed him again. He slept in his pack-n-play for maybe an hour, but he would not calm down, so he slept on me after that.
6:15- Brandon left to go take his test and I thought I would get a little more sleep... screaming! After this feed, he did not want to go back to sleep for a little while, so we were up for the day. Wow, this has not been the break I thought I was getting. He is exhausted this morning, so he is napping right now, and I am about to try to catch a wink of sleep myself. He is on Zantac for his reflux, but I am not so sure that it is working very well since he cannot lay down for very long before becoming extremely uncomfortable. I have already called the pediatrician's office to ask about trying some rice cereal or a different medicine, I am just waiting to hear back. I just know that if I don't start getting some sleep (longer than 2 1/2 hours at a time), I might just lose my mind!
How was that for a realistic post? Sorry for the whining, but I thought that would put a little perspective on what life is really like in our house/hotel today.

Valentine's Day/Weekend

We celebrated Valentine's Day all weekend at our house. We ate with some friends and their kids on Saturday night, but then Blake wanted to keep the party going all night... so Brandon took Kate to church and let me and Blake sleep in- best gift of all! Then, my parents watched the kids so we could go to dinner Sunday night and it was so relaxing to not be parenting through dinner! I hope everyone else had a great one too!

In honor of Valentine's Day (a little late), I wanted to post 5 reasons for loving my Valentine:

5- He loves me, even when I take out my sleepless frustration on him. He is always looking for ways to serve me. Sometimes I get frustrated when he is not serving me in the exact way I want, and then I will notice that he was serving me in a different way and I didn't even notice!

4- He is constantly reading and studying on how to be a better husband and father... what he doesn't know is that we already think he is the best there is!

3- He loves our kids more than anoyone else could (besides me :) )

2- He gave me these beautiful kids:

1- His love for the Lord drives him to love me more than I could have ever asked for! He is already teaching our kids about Jesus and how He loves them. What a good example of a husband and father for this little man:

and this little lady:

Happy late V-Day!

Sweet Babies and Recent Projects

Blake has really started enjoying bathtime. I don't know if this picture is too far away, but he has a sweet smile on his face. I was pouring the water at just the right time to keep him covered.

After bathtime... my sweet boy!

This is a pair of pants I made for Kate... they look so cute on! I just use a little of the same fabric to do an applique initial on a white shirt for such a cute outfit. I am going to add a section to my blog of prices and design ideas if anyone is interested in using me as your personal seamstress! :)

This is another applique shirt I made to go with matching pants or shorts. They look so precious on!

This is the latest dress I made and smocked for Kate. I am so glad that I went to the classes to learn how to make these dresses from start to finish, I am getting much faster at it and will keep cranking them out!

Here is Kate "holding it" as she says. On a daily basis, she holds Blake and now she even says "I suv you." I was making him mad by sucking his nose out the other day and he was screaming... Kate climbed up onto my bed and kissed him on his forehead and said "I sorry" and "sss ok." She really is sweet to him, sometimes the sweetness just freaks him out a little. She can get him to smile better than any of us! Life is getting more and more fun with these kids!

Wii Fun and More Savings

This is how Kate and her friend, Campbell, play Wii. You are supposed to eat it, right? Katie and Ben came over for dinner and to play Wii and the girls were not satisfied until they had remotes in their hands too.

Yes, I went to Publix twice in one week and it was worth it both times!

I had another $5 off $25 coupon that was going to expire this weekend, so I HAD to go put it to use! I got all of this for $14 and some change... unbelievable! I had coupons for everything but the canned mandarin oranges. I actually did have a coupon for $1 off produce, so that covered the bananas and part of the strawberries. I got the 4 boxes of popcorn for FREE and everything else for pennies! There are 2 boxes cereal, 3 boxes pasta, buffalo wing sauce, worcestershire sauce, 3 cans tomatoes/sauce, 2 cans PAM, and 2 boxes fruit roll-ups. I LOVE PUBLIX!

On a side-note, I went back to CVS as well because I realized that I got a coupon on my receipt for a promo item this week and I could get free merchandise and actually make some extra care bucks. I got chewable baby aspirin (for Nanny) and some Excedrin. When I got there, she scanned a random item that was not mine, so we had to start the transaction over and the register printed out another coupon for free glasses wipes (we both wear glasses)- so I ran and got them to add to my total. After coupons, my total was 4.98 and I had $5 ECB, so I had to buy a caramel for $0.33 to make my total above zero again. I walked away with all that and 5 ECB again... it feels like I am robbing them!

Still Saving!

Just to let you know that we are still couponing and saving... I just haven't posted a picture in a while. I bought all of this for $20.88 out of pocket. It was worth $65.70 before I took advantage of all the sales matched with coupons. Family Dollar sent an ad for $5 off $25 this week, so I took it over to Publix and put it to good use! It does take a little planning before you go to the store, but look at the stockpile of snacks we got! All of this stuff stores well too, so we can store it up and just buy necessities when we need them. The milk and bananas were the only non-sale necessities I bought. There are also 2 boxes of Velveeta, 2 bags of chips, 2 bags of Cheerios snack mix, 2 bags pretzel crisps, 2 bags of Voila meals, 3 cans of tomatoes, bacon, bratwurst, and sour cream. I am very proud when I but only things that I know we will use.

This is from my CVS run... also an amazing sales day!

I got 2 packs of Revitalift face wash cloths, 2 bottles Palmolive, 3 tubes of toothpaste, 1 toothbrush, 3 glade oil candle refills, 1 glade candle, 1 body wash, a glucometer (it was free after a coupon and I have 2 diabetic grandfathers in town), and a mini tube of Excedrin. I had to buy 2 candy bars to make my total above zero for 1 transaction. I spent a total of $8 over 3 transactions to get all of this and I still walked away with 15 extra care bucks for next time! I should have spent $5.50, but the wormy check-out guy rushed me out of the way because he said his line was backing up, so I forgot to use $2.50 extra care bucks one transaction. And that was after I had already let 2 or 3 people go ahead of me... I guess I was taking longer than I thought!

Tomorrow or the next day I will post some sewing project pictures... stay tuned!

Venting

I think I may start screaming louder than Blake if he will not start sleeping through the night! We were doing pretty well for a week or two and now I feel like we are back to square one. I feed him and put him down around 9:30-10 and he is crying at 1 AM... That is NOT okay with me. I re-wrap him and put him back down and he will sleep 30 minutes to an hour, and I re-wrap him again... back up in 30 minutes to an hour, and so on. Last night, I kept putting him back in bed and fuss some more until 3 AM. I know he can go that long without eating, so I made him wait until then to eat. He was not starving, he was just restless and not fully asleep. What is his deal?! He is over 3 months old now, and he should definitely be going longer than every 3-4 hours at night. I get stressed out, but what can I really do about it? He is right next to me, and I hear him with or without earplugs. The laundry room idea is sounding better and better to me. My holdback is always that I worry about the ventilation in there. I have this mental picture of him breathing in dryer lint and I can't put him in there. If we don't move out of this tiny condo soon, I may be moving into a mental institution!
Loud neighbors + 4 humans and a dog + no more clear floor space + no escape from screaming baby = Insanity