steppin' out saturday: mother's day weekend

 on ian: top- target, jeans- sonoma, shoes- nike.  on me:  top- trinity (via zulily), jeans- old navy, sandals- urban outfitters, earrings- modcloth.

we took it easy this weekend.  we decided to have our mother's day dinner saturday night to avoid the crowds on sunday.  and while i named off about 50 places i really wanted to go- we decided to put those on a "date night" list & go somewhere family friendly so that ian would enjoy himself, which means we would enjoy ourselves.  sunday we all had breakfast in bed & i got to open my mother's day gifts- chocolates, a gift card to ulta (new makeup!!) a cd and some hello kitty workout headbands.  we lazed around for a while and then decided to head out for the day.  we had lunch at panera, took ian to target to get him a new car, played for a while at the neighborhood playground & then headed out for ice cream (sorbet for him, of course).  when we got home, ian napped while dave & i just relaxed.  when everyone was awake again we headed to dave's parent's house to have dinner.  i made sure to give my mom a call (they're in florida)!   after spending time with them we came home & crashed.  perfect days spending lots of meaningful time with my boys.

how was your mother's day?

tomorrow is a big day for us...  i am going back to work!  it's only 1 day a week, but i think it will be nice to have a few hours out of the house to get my work done and ian will make some new friends & have lots of fun.  we found a great place for him which i'm sure i'll talk more about later.  i'm so nervous, and a little sad.  as much as i want time to get my work done, i don't want to leave my boy this long.  so keep us in your thoughts tomorrow- but i'm sure everyone will be just fine!!

catching up- mother's day & daddy's birthday

i'm proud to say that i'm only a week behind here!  hooray me.

last weekend was my 2nd mother's day!  it started out on thursday when i received beautiful flowers from my boys and it just kept getting better!  friday i got my gift since dave couldn't wait until sunday- i got a pair of havaianas fit- which brought a little bit of warm weather with them!  on saturday, ian was running a small temperature, so we gave him a light dose of tylenol & headed to see dave's sister & meet our new nephew, gavin who was born on may 4th! 

when we got home, we went out for mother's day dinner to beat the sunday crowds- i chose thai food again.  too bad ian still wasn't feeling great- and was pretty fussy @ dinner.  we ended up having to have our dinner boxed and to go since it's a pretty small restaurant and only had a few people in it.  i should probably get used to not seeing the inside of a restaurant for a while...  we took ian to dave's parent's house, finished our dinner and went to see a the wife of one of dave's friends sing with her band.  on the way home we stopped for a milkshake @ steak & shake- it was nice to have the time alone!  when we picked ian up, he was super hot.  he was running a temp around 103!  this time we gave him a full dose of tylenol and put him straight back to bed when we got home.  sunday morning my boys gave me a card and surprised me with pancakes in bed.  we then got ready & got cupcakes from the cupcake truck & headed to my in-law's house for lunch- ian seemed to be feeling much better, and had a good time playing around.  i got so many sweet texts and facebook messages- it was a nice, simple day.  here are a few mother's day themed photos.

 my mom & me

me with my mom & brother shortly after he is born.  seriously mom- how do you look this good.  i mean, seriously, you look amazing.  i need to know people's baby-havin' secrets...

me and my boy on mother's day.  love.

on tuesday we celebrated dave's 30th(!) birthday!  it was a bit of a crazy day for us- in the middle of the afternoon, i got a few frantic messages from various members of the family letting me know that dave's great aunt was stranded in chicago where she was connecting on her flight from seattle to visit dave's gma in ft. wayne.  she needed someone to pick her up & i was the only one available... and we've never met...  luckily, i found aunt connie quite easily and made it back to dave's parent's house with her.  we ended up having to skip the gym, but went out for our normal tuesday night dinner and back for cake- a cake made from scratch- by me!  we got home and gave dave his "gifts" (for the first time ever they had not arrived in time)- we went with the hard-to-find indians hat that he wanted from our cleveland trip, and a 3 month beer of the month club membership!  i even decorated the house and dave's car in honor of the big day!!

 delicious homemade carrot cake... and 2 sweet guys!

i've got it pretty good, even when i don't think i do.  ;)

happy monday!

crying it out

cry it out is an interesting thing.

crying it out is the method in which a parent leaves their baby in their bed to cry for a specific period of time, before offering comfort- without picking them up.  the reason for implementing this method of sleep training is to help train your baby to fall asleep on his or her own without using "crutch" ie: rocking, patting.


you can start with cio as early as 4 months- dave and i didn't know this in the beginning, so we tried it the first couple weeks until we found out we needed to wait- oh, i felt terrible.  now we are at 4 months, and we have just started implementing it again.  we didn't really need it at first- but with the turmoil of the current wonder week- it has been a necessity.


why do i think cio is a good idea?  it's a good idea because i feel you need to teach your baby to self-soothe.  i just don't think it's a good idea to go and pick your baby up every time they cry- why?  i mean, sure, you have the ability to say, "my baby is so good, he/she never cries" but of course they won't when you are picking them up every time they cry.  giving into them will only make things harder when they are older- because babies are smart!  if i leave ian in the room and he is cooing and content he starts to cry the second the door closes, but the second my hand touches the knob to come back in, a hush falls over the room.  he knows.

it's also the toughest thing in the world.  it's the toughest thing in the world because nobody wants to hear their baby cry- it just tears you up- you want to go and run in and rescue them- hold them and rock them to sleep, but you've got to be strong!  i like to do necessary daily tasks during that time to keep me occupied- ie: eat breakfast or lunch, take a quick shower (all within earshot or view of my baby monitor).

crying it out has really started working for us.  5 minutes is usually my first check in.  after i put ian down for a nap or bedtime, i give him 5 minutes- if he's still fussing i go in and assess the situation:  is he wet?  has he spit up?  is he gassy?  has he lost the pacifier?  is it too hot/cold?  has he pulled mr. bear over his face?  i check into these things, flip him back over (he's been flipping to his tummy to sleep lately, and i find it easier to get him to sleep if i "start him over again" on his back).  i talk to him and reassure him, re-wind his lamb or mobile, give him a few pats and i'm out again.  this time i extend the time from 7-10 minutes.  lately, i  haven't needed to do this, and sometimes lately i haven't even needed the first check.

there have been other times though that after all the check-ins; the crying just won't stop.  and those times have ended baby in my arms both of us fast asleep in my bed.  and that's ok too.  sometimes baby just needs mama, and mama just needs baby.

what are your methods in getting baby to sleep with ease or to self-soothe?