Space Trip... Or so it would appear

So I just returned home from another adventure in California. While it was filled with a mixture of business and fun, the best part is always coming home to my family. I flew Virgin America and the flight feels more like a nightclub meets space shuttle, then an airplane. Mood lighting, with spa-like music, and clean crisp white seats set a mood to be enjoyed even in coach. (Perhaps I have flown Southwest, or Alaska for far to long)



I was given the opportunity to come home a day early, so I took it. With typical airlines you have to pay a fee to change reservations (or go standby). When I called to change my reservation, they informed me that it would cost $75. (FYI- I wouldn't be paying for it, my boss would) But they gave me an option. If I upgraded they would wave the re-booking fee, and I would only have to pay the difference. The difference... $35... so of course to save my boss some money, I upgraded to first-class. Although Virgin is somewhat limited in where they fly, I would highly recommend it to anyone flying where they fly. (even if you don't fly first-class)

Reading Time

Most of the Libraries in our area offer story time to kids of all ages. I have had several mothers tell me there kids love story time at the library, especially the Mukilteo library. Chris and I went on a library outing this last weekend. We first went to the Everett library since it is the closest but we do not live in there district and were told we would need to pay for a library card. A major perk of a library is the fact that you can check out books for free.

Of course we were not going to pay for a card so we decided to go to the Mukilteo library where it is free to check out books. We originally went to rent a few videos, books, and learning kits for Toph but picked up some activity information while we were there. I was very excited to see that this particular library offered a Baby Story time. I'm sure Toph was just as excited.

The class was really fun. There were about 10 other moms/grandmas with kids under the age of 18 months. We first introduced ourselves and the baby that was with us and sung the Hello song to each person. Then the teacher read a story out loud (it was about vehicles and the noises they make), followed by an alphabet song, a coo-coo song, a rhyme, and playtime. Toph was very attentive. He loved the interactive songs and watching the other children play. There was a little girl that must have thought Toph was pretty cute. She wanted to play with all the toys he was playing with and kept bringing more toys (particularly the colored balls) for him to play with. She was a great sharer.

We will definitely be going back. There are a lot of parents that come every week. It will be fun getting to know them better.

We got the yellow pom-pom. This was for waving around as we danced in a circle around the room.

They dumped out a whole tote full of toys for the kids to play with. It took me a while to get Toph to play with the toys because he was to interested in watching the other kids run around and go crazy over the balls and tunnel.

Rough day. I guess reading puts you to sleep no matter how old you are. HAHAHA!!! Like mother like son. I'm just glad we made it through story time.

3 Months

So from day three (which is when we went into meet with the pediatrician for the first time) we have been watching Toph's weight. He has been a happy healthy baby from day one but not as heavy as the doctor or the charts show that he should be. Therefore, we have been into the doctors often often for weight checks.

We have tried to weigh him at home periodically but our scale isn't as accurate which is important when every ounce counts. My Dad told us we should place him in the scales at the grocery stores. Every time we would go into a store Chris and I would eye the scales but never got up the nerve to place him in. Last week we were at Top Foods and the place was practically empty so I was trying to talk Chris into placing Toph in one of the produce scales or the scale for the pound candy/snacks. Every time we got close to doing it an employee would walk by plus the scales were kind of high and hung from the ceiling. So we chickened out. We decided to just wait for his doctors appointment.

We went in this afternoon for a weight check and I talked them into measuring his length and head, after all I wanted to attempt to get my moneys worth.

Current stats:

Weight - 10.15 pounds 7%
Length - 24.25 inches 75%
Head - 39 cm circumference 10%

Mov'n On Up

I know this post is a little late since Toph is 10 weeks today but I wanted to update everyone regarding his growth. Below are Toph's statistics as of June 23rd, his two month check up.

Weight - 9 lbs 4 1/2 oz
Length - 23 1/4 inches
Head Circumference - 38 cm

He ....
Focuses on objects other than faces. Loves to lay on his froggy mat and watch the toys hanging above him. It is fun to see his reaction when he accidentally hits one.
Follows voices, turns his head towards light and noise.
Has recieved two immunization shots.
Holds and kind of shakes his rattle.
Talks constantly, tells stories as Grandpa says.
Has been to two movies, one being in the Imax. (Wolverine and Transformers)
Has been to the Pacific Science Center.
Has been on an airplane from Seattle to Montana and endured an 8 hour drive back.
Has been to his first Cub Scout day camp.
Has witnessed (or slept through) fireworks.
Has gone in our pool. Once with Dad, once with Mom and twice with Grandpa.
Takes a pacifier when he's tired, takes a bottle when we are out and about, and is a great eater.
Has dark blue eyes and his hair is starting to turn red.
Takes one or two good naps a day and has officially slept through the night.

Father's Day

I was extremely excited to be in Montana with my family on Father's day. I absolutely love all the father's in my family (My two brothers Daniel and Chris, my dad, and of course my husband). My father is the greatest father. He is very loving, patient, cheritable, and such a great peacemaker. He makes being a Daddy's girl extremely special and fun. I have really enjoyed watching him interact with Toph. He has been such a great example to me when it comes to interacting with children and expressing patience. Thank you Dad for showing me the traits of a loving Father. It was great to spend Father's day with my entire family, very special that Me, Chris, and Toph were togeather as a family to celebrate Chris' first Father's Day. I woke up early on Sunday to feed Toph and get him ready to wake his dad. I wrote out "Happy Fathers Day" (in sloppy hand writting like a child would, which was my brothers idea) and ironed it on a onesie. It was super cute if you ask me. Then I took him into Chris for a wake up call. I guess you could say .... Toph was Chris' Father's Day gift, Toph and a kiss. Probably the most valuable gift I have ever given someone, but completely worth it. Chris is an amazing Dad. I think it has come to surprise Chris just how much he could love Toph. It brings a tear to my eye remembering Chris' first reaction to Toph when he was born. Chris was the first one to see Toph and hold him. Chris was crying as he brought Toph to me. Chris just kept saying, "Babe he is perfect. He is so beautiful." He was a proud Father from the first moment he saw Toph. He has been exceeding my expectations every day. Chris loves his Toph time. He can get Toph to smile and calm down when no one else can and he always seems to know exactly what to do. His support and love make my job as Mom alot easier. Thanks Babe ... I appreciate all you do. Then we ate breakfast and headed to church. Shortly after we got home from church My brother and his wife and there little guy were at our house. Daniel, Katy, and Kyler were meeting Toph for the first time. At first Kyler (19 months) would start crying when his mom would hold Toph. He was fine once Uncle Chris distracted him with the Wii. A few hours later my other brother and his family showed up. It was great; we visited, ate, played games, and took family photos.

Call Me Crazy!!!!

The first couple weeks Toph slept a 4-5 hour stretch at night. Then we took him into the pediatrician and he wasn't gaining weight like our Doctor wanted so I was told to wake him every 2-3 hours, day or night. After doing this for a few weeks I thought I had ruined his chances for sleeping through the night since I had created a habit of him eating every 2-3 hours during the night.

Not sure when things changed ... it seemed like one day Toph was waking me up every 3 hours and then the next I was waking up before Toph. For the past week Toph has been going to bed around 10 or 11 pm and waking up around 5 or 6 am. Saturday night he actually slept 8 hours. WOW!!! It feels very strange not getting up several times during the night. I still wake up a couple times to go check on him, especially since the sun comes up so early and it makes me feel like he should be up also.

I was rocking Toph to sleep the other day and felt kind of sad that he might no longer need me in the middle of the night. No more routine middle of the night feedings (At least for right now, I'm sure there will be several times in his life that he will wake up in the night) that result in Toph coming back to bed with us.:( Don't get me wrong I love getting a full night sleep but it definitely is bitter sweet.

Nap .... What Nap???

When a baby stays up all day and finally falls a sleep at 8:00pm is this considered a nap?

My day began this morning (well when you wake up every 3-4 hours during the night I am not sure there is a definite indication between night and day, therefore there isn't really a morning) when Toph woke up at 2:30 to eat. Usually at night he eats fairly quickly and lets me put him back in his crib. He must have still been super sleepy because he fell asleep eating. He seemed to be completely out so I decided to place him back into his crib. As soon as I put him down he instantly woke up, eyes as wide as possible. I decided to feed him a little more and rock him to sleep before I put him back in his crib. Little did I know this was going to be the pattern for the entire day.

So like clock work he woke up 3 hours later. This time I decided to bring him back to bed with me once he was finished eating. Sometimes he sleeps longer when he is in bed with us. Although he was asleep he moaned and groaned and made every noise imaginable until about 7:30. He kind of woke himself up so I decided to take him into the Living Room, I thought maybe Chris would want to get a couple hours of good sleep before he had to get up.

I was lucky enough to get Toph back to sleep after he ate around 9:30, but only for an hour or so and I had to lay with him until he fell asleep. He woke up around 11:00and continued to fall asleep at each feeding and fought sleeping from that point on. He was so tired that he could hardly eat. He would fall asleep as soon as he started eating and I couldn't do anything to wake him except for putting him down. He could be snoring and be completely limp and unresponsive but the minute I put him down he would wake up. I tried everything; putting him in his crib, on our bed, in his swing, laying down with him, or placing him on the couch. NOTHING WAS WORKING!!!

If he didn't open his eyes right when I put him down He would start crying once he noticed he wasn't being held. He would cry until I came and picked him up. He would then look at me and smile huge as though he was showing me he was happy and not tired and that he was O.K. to stay up. His smiles only lasted a few minutes until he would start to doze off. I think he would have succeeded in putting himself to sleep but he kept waking himself up. He would get so tired that he would start fussing until I picked him up and rocked him to sleep. Then the cycle started all over again. He fought sleep, kind of fell asleep, would wake up, would eat, would fall asleep (just a few minutes at a time), would wake up, would get rocked while he fought sleep until it was time to eat. This went on until 8:00 pm tonight.

Just for the record, I love being home with Toph and feel such an overwhelming love each time I get to cuddle with him and rock him to sleep, the key word being sleep. Not sure today was one of our most fun days.

What a day .... not our usual day. Thank goodness, because I am completely worn out. I finally got him to sleep around 8:00pm until 11:00pm. He is now back to sleep. Hopefully for a few hours.

I should probably go to bed to make the best of his sleeping time.
Good Night!!!