Ferber

We decided to bite the bullet and start Ferber just a few days earlier than planned. Originally we wanted to wait until Tuesday night because she's been fighting a cold, but it seems to have cleared up pretty much and we would like to sleep again (I'm sure it can't hurt Eva's overall wellness either to get good sleep).

How we did it- The Set Up:
It was a little tricky trying to figure out how to do this with Will and Eva sharing a room but this is what we came up with. Eva is going to be sleeping in the pack 'n play until Will is ready for a big boy bed (maybe sometime this summer?) so we set it up in their room (which has been Will's room up until now) with Eva alone in there until she's sleeping well. Will is in a borrowed pack 'n play in the living room for nighttime sleep and in our room for naps. We put him in the livingroom so he wouldn't be disturbed by us getting up frequently to reassure Eva of our presence during crying jags. Also, the dining room and living room can be closed off from the rest of the house by a door thereby giving him more quietude. Every sleeper has a fan too (it could be argued that this is an unecessary crutch that should be gotten rid of as well, but we are fan sleepers in this house and there's no reason in my mind that it shouldn't continue).

Ferber-Night 1, Day 1:
Will went down easily in the living room due to a skipped nap and a little later bedtime. Eva went down easily as well due to the same circumstances. Will stayed asleep through the night (phew) and Eva woke every single sleep cycle (just about every hour). During the day Eva has taken 2 short naps and is only happy during waking hours when being held. I am trying not to hold her too much as it is a.) exhausting and b.) not aiding in the forming of the self-soothing techniques that Ferber instills. Will went down for his nap but not without a fight. It's been a hard 16 hours.

I am looking forward to the positive report that I will be giving in a day or two. Until then, I'm trying to hang in there.

Nothin'. What's up with you?

Time for updates. We'll start with the little people and then move on to the big people in the house.

Eva-
Sweet little Eva has decided that sleeping long stretches is not for her anymore. She was giving us 8-9 hours at night from about 3 months of age until last month. On her 5 month birthday she started waking every 3 to 4 hours again (not as bad as our little friend Claire, but still not great). We've chosen this week to do Ferber so we should be getting our Z's back (thank God) by Friday (she'll be 6 months old next week). Besides sleep, she is growing and learning lots about her environment. The biggest thing we've noticed lately is how much she's fascinated by her brother. She will watch Will intently as he plays and turns her head to follow him whenever he motors by. She also likes the exersaucer a lot and the activity mat (grabbing toys is fun) but still doesn't love being on her tummy, so I don't think she'll be an early crawler.

Go Cards

Watching internet TV and eating ice cream with Mom and Dad

Will-
I absolutely love this age. He will be turning two at the end of May and he's learning so much so fast. His favorite things are balls (everything is a "basseh ball") and he loves hearing his dad play the guitar (ta-tar) and the piano (pano). One funny little thing is that he's been calling Rodney and me (but mostly me) by our first names quite a bit lately. I try to ignore it until he says "mama" or I say "I'm mama" and then he stops, but it's kinda funny. He's talking more and more lately and trying out new phrases daily it seems. Some of his favorites are "there it is," "I see it," "time to eat," "have it, want it," "shoot it (the ball)," and "you do it." Sometimes when we leave someplace he'll name all the people he can think of that were there and then say "that was fun." If we're leaving the house he'll say "bye bye Che, little bit" which means "bye bye Che (our dog), see you in a little bit." The one that was cracking me up yesterday was while we were driving he said "moon, where are you?" He's also fascinated with bikes and even tried to sequester a little toddler's bike-type ride in the park a little while back (much to the potential friend's dismay).

Pumping

Rocker

Rodney-
He has accepted a job at Lift for Life Academy in Soulard for the fall. This is a humongous blessing due to the turmoil at his current school, Imagine College Prep. He is very excited about the change and would start teaching there tomorrow if he could. It also doesn't hurt that the school is right across the street from the Soulard Market (my husband is as white as it gets when it comes to farmers markets). He's also getting ready to teach a May term class at Greenville (in Godfrey, IL at an extention campus) that will last 3 weeks. The class is called Christian Ethics, which is a new one for him. He'll also be teaching a night class at SLU in the fall, so he's getting some college teaching experience under his belt.

Gina-
I just finished concert week with the symphony with two performances of Berlioz's La Damnation de Faust on Friday and Saturday. It was really amazing. We have one more performance left for the season which is Beethoven's 9th, and if it's anything like my first two concerts with this incredible group of musicians I should be in for some more greatness. I have a Bach Society concert on Sunday, the last of our season and we're performing Mozart's Vespers and Bach's Jesu Meine Freude at St. Xavier Church on SLU's campus. It should be a very good concert as well. Poor Rodney has been a little worn out becuase he's on single-daddy duty just about every night during concert weeks and to have two back to back should not be fun. But, he did secure a babysitter and was able to attend last night's performance at the symphony so he got a little "second wind" so to speak. I am truly blessed to be able to stay home with my kids and still pursue my musical career goals. Even though it can be tiring, it is extremely rewarding.

*Holy* Week

And it was. In past years I've taken singing jobs at different churches during this week because it's pretty good money. But, since the family is growing I've decided to say no to such offers in order to spend time together. Boy, am I happy this decision was made. Instead of spending the week hoarse and otherwise physically done-for we played, rested, ate, and played some more. Now that's what I call *holy*

The week (or really extended weekend) was packed with goodness. The fun began with an awesome outing to a Cards game on Thursday. Yes it was cold, rainy and wet, but Rodney came home at 11:30 and we spent the rest of the day together which was quite the treat.


Then, I had completely forgotten that R had Good Friday off, making Thursday the unexpected beginning of a little much needed vacay. That night I requested a night out with M for some mommy pampering time (sans babes) and we headed to the mall. I came home to a happy hubby with chillins snuggly tucked-in. Could it get any better?

Yes. Friday we had a BBQ with Kendra, Mike and Jesse and Saturday we headed over to Mike and Kendra's for brunch along with a little egg dying and hunting. Will had way too much chocolate and stained hands by naptime. He was hilarious.

We were invited back to M and K's house for Easter Dinner on Sunday along with the Brower-Tolands, Jesse Walls, and Mike's collegue Kara (whom I sure Will had a little crush on). The food was delicious and the kids were amazing. Such a good time.

I didn't take many pictures on Easter Day (doof) so I'm scrounging

Mike and Eva

We are now all enjoying some solitude with kids a-nappin' and mom a-bloggin.' Just maybe I'll get to practice today. I've decided not to hold my breath, however.

Lost in Translation

For those who know my son, you know that he is quite the communicator. He does have some words however, that do not sound much like the word it's intended to be and only those closest to him know what he's saying. Lately I've noticed he's trying to be more accurate with certain words and this through me for a loop the other day.

Will, approaches me and says with expression (he even used his hands): "Tightay?"

Me: "What?"

Will: "Tightay!?!!"

Me: "I'm sorry buddy, I still don't understand."

Will: "Sasa!"

Me: "Oh! Ricecake!!"

Will: "Oh! Sasa!!!"


So much for accuracy.

Mystery Revealed

Re: my last post- It was baby spit, Ya'll. Pretty gross, eh?

The Biggest Bird Ever

Atleast that was my first thought when I saw this.

Then I realized that was no bird. The two following thoughts going through my head were "thank God" and then "nice shot, Eva."

Last week was Rodney's spring break and we planned a trip to Michigan to visit my family (my dad had not seen Eva in person yet). It was our first official long car trip since Eva's birth and it was an overall success. We have learned from our summer travels with Will last year that driving through the night is the only way to do it and this time was no different.

We left Monday night after a great weekend with the whole Malone clan here in STL. Despite the fact that we had a fun weekend, it left us with no time to pack until the day of the trip. Our ETD (estimated time of departure) was 7pm and after a lot of scurrying we made it in the car with everyone in their places by 7:40.

We were a little nervous about Eva sleeping because, being the great little baby that she is, she slept almost the entire time we packed. But, she completely blew us away when she feel asleep without fussing about 15 minutes into the drive and stayed that way until midnight, at which time we gave her a bottle and she fell right back to sleep until 9 am. William took a little more coaxing, but we were ready to help the little man out. Soccer ball in hand, he quietly listened to his favorite cd on the IPod through the car stereo and was asleep by the second to last song. Wish we would have had something like this last summer (we spent hours during our huge road trip trying to get him to forget the fact that he was in his carseat and not his crib).

Excited for the Trip

Tight Quarters

Just Another Road Trip?

By driving through the night we made the trip in 7 1/2 hours, just 1/2 hour longer than a childless trip. Compare that to the 9 hours it took my sister and brother-in-law (+2 kids) with their day drive to STL this Christmas. Yeah, through the night is the way to go.

We arrived at my sister's house by about 3 am and got, well, some sleep. William awoke in the middle of the night and slept with us until daybreak, at which point the bright sun lit up the cozy basement (where our blow-up mattress was) and he could not resist playing with all of his cousins' toys. Rodney and I decided to let him play while we attempted to get some shut-eye and this worked until Will put a Barbi car on my head with the lousdest freakin' music blasting in my ear. So much for sleep recovery. *Sigh*

We had a great breakfast with Earon, Mia and Evan and headed to the aiport to pick up Papa and Nana around 11:30. We are such dorks for two reasons. 1. Earon and I both forgot our cameras to capture the reunion in the airport and 2. As we excitedly watched for my parents to get off the plane (they had one of the stair thingys that unloads people right onto the tarmac) we failed to see that they were also unloading from the back of the plane. We were all staring out of the window (waiting to go crazy with flailing arms when they got off) when mom and dad suddenly said from 2 feet away, "what are you guys looking at?" It was very anti-climatic and gave us lots to laugh about (poor Papa and Nana).

In Love

Papa and Eva

Birthday Meal (Nana's: March 23, Mine: March 4)

Getting Ready for Dance Class

Eva Meets Nonna Eva, Her Namesake

The rest of the week was wonderful. Will took a little while to warm up to his Papa and Nana, but by the end of the trip, he was asking to hold Nana's hand while we walked down the hallways at Marc's school (where he is a band director). This touched her more than anything. He also greeted them when they came back from having dinner with old friends one evening. "Hi," he said with his hand up in a wave. He did this to our neighbor the other day and to kids and people in the park yesterday. Looks like we may have an extrovert on our hands.

Rockin' Out on the Timpani

Proud Grandparents

Where's Evan?

The trip was so good, but I will have to say that it is nice to be home. Will did not sleep fantatastically and has been making up for it ever since we got back. Eva actually did sleep alright, but the interesting thing is that since we've been home, she's started to sleep even longer at night. Rodney and I commented on how we thought they appreciated being home and are thanking us by sleeping well. You're very welcome, children ;).