The Many Faces of Zachary

It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas...

Jordan and I ventured to the mall on the weekend and saw the Big Jolly Man and thought...oh I need to get Zach's picture taken!! I want to record the firsts and I love being able to take my son to see the fun characters :)

Eight Months

Oh My Goodness!!! I can't believe how fast time is flying by!!! My little tiny baby is 8 months old!! It is just crazy! I know everyone says it goes by so fast and it's true. I have loved every single minute of being Zach's Mom. It's been an incredible journey so far! I can't wait to see him continue to grow, learn and change! But please baby boy...not too fast!! :)













* I had an opportunity while we were up north again to have Shannon Vine Photography photograph Zach for a mini-session....it was so worth it! I love her photos and can't wait to use her again!! :)

Happy Halloween!!

Happy Halloween from our family to yours!!! And we ain't LION :) teehee :)

Trust

My brother-in-law and sister-in-law have started a new blog called "Life With You". It's a marriage blog aimed to help newer couples in any issues/questions they could have. Help encourage communication, face problems and have a better, Godly marriage. It's quite interesting so far, even though they just started it! :) But I think it's a good read and I know I need to help improve myself in order to make my marriage better.

Their post about Trust is really resonating with me. I don't trust Jordan right now. It's hard. We have special difficulties and it makes it very hard to trust him. I know I need to, I must learn to trust him, but it's especially hard.

I am hoping that by losing weight I will be a happier person because I won't be so angry with myself all the time and in turn that will make me a happier wife, mom, etc... I will keep their post in my mind each day and will probably read it multiple times!!!

So if you are looking for some encouragement in your marriage, head on over to "Life With You" and read, comment, converse!!! :)

DONE, DONE, DONE

THAT'S IT!!!!! I'm done being half-assed (sorry for crude word, couldn't think of anything else...). I'm done doing things partly, only trying some of the time. I"M DONE!! I'm so mad at myself for not having the will power, stick-to-it-iveness.... I"M DONE!! I'm done letting sweets have control over me in such a major way! I NEED to lose this weight...not want, NEED. I've GOTTA do this! I HAVE TOO!!!!!!

I have been tracking with weight watchers and "trying" for 6 weeks now and only lost 5lbs. I keep going up and down, up and down and I'm done with that. I keep complaining that my jeans don't fit, but who's fault is that?!?!? If I'm not willing to do something about it, I'm not allowed to complain!! So I'm going to try and keep up with my weekly posts here to put it out there as well in a group I'm in on facebook. So here are my goals for this week:

GOALS:
- Drink 4 water bottles a day
- Eat more fruits and veggies!!!
- RESIST!!!! I WILL have will power. I WILL have will power...
- PRAY specifically for people in the group for specific goals - if you need a specific prayer from here leave me a comment.

please, please, please pray for me. I know power of prayer works. I am going to make it a priority to make time for prayer as well. I think having God in my corner to do this will make it better.

Sleep Training

I have had enough. I have had enough of waking up 13, 000 times a night to a baby that needs to be rocked, fed or cuddled. NOW don't get me wrong...I LOVE rocking, feeding and cuddling with him...but when I get ZERO sleep because of it, it becomes a bit tedious. I LOVE Zach, I love him more than anything. I want to watch him grow, play, love, become a Godly man. But, I also want him to sleep through the night!

So, Monday evening I decided we're going to start sleep training. Monday night was a little rough, he took an hour to go to sleep, was up quite often and needed a lot of our pick up/put down (PU/PD) method. It was a long night and I didn't get much sleep. I can tell you specific details if you want to know, since I am tracking to see if there is any pattern in his wake up times. But we did it. He stayed in his crib till 7:30am the next morning.

Nap time on Tuesday went OK. He slept well in the AM nap for about 45 minutes and went down easy-schmesy. Afternoon nap wasn't so successful. Took a while to get him down and then he only slept for 20 minutes. But since we are following the baby whisperers advice and trying to keep him on a 4 hour eat/sleep plan, it was time for him to eat. So only a 20 minute nap did he have. Jordan and I had an errand to run so we left him with a sitter. Came home, he wasn't the happiest baby, but he wasn't doing too badly. He was happy to see me. We had a good play, he was able to wind down and i put him down for a third cat nap. He slept for another 40 or so minutes.

I was worried about bedtime on Tuesday that it would take a long time, I would have a very upset baby and I would feel my tension start to rise and worried I may just relapse and go back to what works....BUT....he did fantastic!!!!!! He was asleep at night in 5 minutes with just one PU/PD. Almost every time he woke in the night, his soother and a pat on the bum were sufficient. YAY!!!! He woke at 4am for a feed, was back to sleep 1/2 hour later. Had to do 20 minutes of PU/PD at 6am, but then he slept till 8am!!! He then came into our bed for a little snuggle and to let him know we are still there, love him and want to snuggle him. I made sure he didn't fall asleep again so as not to associate coming to bed with me as sleep time anymore.

I know many people who advocate for co-sleeping, not sleep training and letting the child lead. But it just doesn't work for me. I can't/don't sleep well with others in my bed, especially snuggled right up next to me. I need sleep. I need sleep to be a good mom, because otherwise I'm touchy, angry, frustrated easily and it's not a good environment. This new sleep schedule will work for our family.

Nap time today is going OK so far. Jordan tried to put him to sleep, but Zach got way to upset. I know you're not supposed to take over, but I just can't give over my control like that and listen to Zach cry when I know I can stop it. I know, I know, it's not what I should be doing, but I'm working on small baby steps!!

So now, I am praying that sleep just gets better and better. I know we will have minor setbacks and I am prepared for them. I am preparing myself to not give up, continue with our efforts and I know we will be rewarded.

I can do this! Zach can do this! We can be a healthy, loving, SLEEP-FILLED family!!!!