Sleeping

Ian slept in a little cosleeper bed right beside our bed from Day 1, to make nursing easier, and it also alleviated fears of squishing him. Eventually, though, he ended up sleeping w/Shannon and I (Owen has always slept on his own, thankfully!)

Well, I looked up the other day and realized Ian's almost a year old and still nurses frequently throughout the night--meaning I haven't slept through the night in a year. He barely wakes up when he nurses--grunts a little, and I wake up and off he goes, falling back to sleep quickly but not immediately, so that means I'm up for a while, sometimes not falling back asleep easily...you get the picture.

So tonight was the night. I'd previously tried keeping him from nursing but still letting him cosleep, to try to ease the transition. No dice. The smell and proximity of Mom was too hard for both of us. So I put him in his crib and said good night. I did this after he'd already been asleep for about 2 hrs., so he was sleepy already.

45 minutes later, he's asleep. I went in every 3 minutes, three times, then in every 6 min., twice, then every 10 min. The last time he let me lay him back down and rub his tummy. He slowly fell asleep, occasionally opening his eyes to give me this awful wounded-animal look--"how could you?"--but exhaustion won out in the end. I did not just let him cry it out alone because I felt like he needed to know I was still around, had not abandoned him, but also that I was not going to pick him up. Ugh. I hated it all...but when school starts, I have to be able to sleep!

Ah, tomorrow, let's talk about Owen and sleeping. Another great story, sure to fascinate...

Good night. Must sleep while I can.

Some more pictures!

Above, you'll see Ian on his day of birth; Owen hugging "Obama the Llama" (he named it!) on election day this past November (WOOHOO Obama!); Owen with his Grammy; Owen in the park with his (great)Grandma Billie.

Some recent photos

Owen on BigWheel in March

Ian on our back deck, March

Ian and Owen at St. Louis zoo

Me w/Ian and Owen and St. Louis zoo couple of weekends ago

This is insane.

I have not logged in or posted on this blog in OVER A YEAR! Holy CRIPES!!!! Let me tell you why:

I gave birth to a perfect baby boy, 9 lbs, 21 inches long, via C-section on 6 August 2008!

And that is why.

Having two in diapers is fun, exhausting, fun, amazing, fun, insane, fun, and makes me realize just how blessed we are daily! (Well, most days.)

Owen Lawrence Armando is a pistol now--he's 2 3/4 yrs old. He'll be 3 on 28 Oct. this year. His language skills amaze me literally every single day, as do his capacity for extreme rage one moment and mushy heart-breaking love the next. Ah, the life of a two-year-old!

Ian Raymond Keith is something else, too! He's now 11 1/2 months, to turn one very soon! While Owen was a mellow baby, Ian is a maniac. He tears around the house crawling--on hands and knees or gorilla-style, on hands and feet--and has recently begun trying to leave the house on a regular basis (going to the doors and trying to open them). He climbs, he flops, and he is hilarious.

I'm going to play around some with the format here, then try to post some RECENT pictures. Look how little my Owen looks in my last post! Where did my baby go???