Quiet Ambition

I'm getting kind of ambitious lately...in my imagination. I wish that would translate better to real life. I was playing with my great nephew and great niece this week, and totally admiring their grandma-made quiet book.

I totally remember having one of those as a kid! I remember something about a zipper and shoelaces...and not much else. But I remember loving it.

I have just spent the last hour perusing some how-to sites, including this one that has lots of links that sparked my imagination.

I now have a 2 page word document full of ideas. I would love love to make this and have it ready by Christmas next year (I think having it ready by Edgar's b-day in April is a bit too ambitious).

Hmmm...what about the scrapbook I got really ambitious about and have hardly done a thing on? What about my scripture reading schedule that I am way behind on, not to mention the little fort of unpacked boxes from the flood over a year ago or the pile of mail that needs sorting? I don't think I have the license to get ambitious about a new project.

Still....

A girl can have dreams, right?

Ah. There is my son fussing again during his nap. And I wonder why I never get very far on projects. *Sigh* Gone are the days of devoting entire days to my projects.

Guess I just need to learn how to move faster!

Trick or Treating RVs

That's right, I said "trick or treating RVs." We spent Halloween camping in Yurt's on the Oregon Coast with my nephew Garrett and his girlfriend Kelly.
Edgar was fat baby Elvis. It was seriously awesome.

We did a little trick-or-treating among the RVs that were also at the campsite. We got one piece of candy from the camp host. That was it. Some hippie biking campers offered Edgar some granola, but he declined.

We stayed at the Carl G. Washburn campsite. The best part was the blooming of fungi after it rained. Here, baby Elvis and I are checking out the GIGANTIC mushroom.

Kelly and baby Elvis having so much fun.

Such a cutie!

He certainly enjoyed playing with the candy! But, as he is only 6 months old, we ate the candy for him. He ate pears and chewed sealed candy wrappers.

It did rain, but it was also fairly warm and beautiful.

Kelly made some fantastic sand drawings. Here, Edgar and I are checking out part of one drawing.

Beautiful Halloween Sunset!

Family Love.

Daddy and Edgar playing in the COLD water!

Mama and Edgar howling at the Halloween Moon.

Back in the Saddle Again

We are (finally) back in the recording studio again! It's a little bit more crowded in the little studio though!

It's a good thing Edgar has a pretty late bedtime. Still...these sessions push his bedtime just a bit. He's done pretty good at both sessions so far, but does end up screaming tired by the end.

Still, it sure makes us feel more alive to be back working on our album! We are mixed 3 of the 12 songs we recorded. Hooray!

Hooray for a rock and roll baby!

More fun with cousins!

Today was another fun day spent with the Gillas cousins! We are sure glad they moved back closer (they used to live 4ish hours away!)
I think Emily's girlyness is wearing off on Edgar. He kind of has cleavage in this photo.

Garrett and I climbed to the top of a rocket ship at the Evergreen Space Museum! We spent the day exploring the Space Museum, Air Museum, and watched Wild Ocean at the Imax. The babies were very well behaved (=

I LOVE parks with baby swings. Edgar loves, loves, LOVES to swing. Evergreen has a particularly awesome playground.

Love this boy!

Ed in the Bed

The Story Behind the Sleeping arrangements:
Now, I certainly don't expect a baby to sleep through the night. But...my baby still wants to nurse every 2 hours. And, when I first put him to sleep, he wants to nurse every 20-30 minutes for the first few hours! Our solution to Edgar's colic and nursing needs in the early days was to take him to bed with us. Once I learned how to nurse lying down, it was almost as good as sleeping through the night! (For those of you with worries about crushing baby, studies show that parents do NOT roll over on their baby unless they are drunk or taking medication that makes them sleepy).


Current Events:
Part of me LOVES sleeping with my baby. I love the closeness. I love waking up with him staring lovingly into my eyes and patting my face. I love snuggling with him. I LOVE not having to get up out of bed to nurse him at night! But...as you can see in the above photo, my baby is a bit of a bed hog. There just isn't room for all three of us to sleep well. I sleep pretty well, but Alex doesn't sleep so well with an Ed in the Bed. My very loving patient husband has spent many nights on the couch or air mattress when Edgar decides to jump and kick in his sleep.

Also, we are paying for a gym membership that neither of us is using, because we are SO exhausted every morning. We need to do something differently.

The Plan:
Phase 1. Last night we moved our bed into Edgar's room, next to his crib. We are all still sleeping in the same bed as usual...but now we are conditioning him to sleeping in his room. I expect this will last about a week.

Phase 2. Alex and I will continue to sleep in the bed in Edgar's room, and I will continue to nurse Edgar to sleep lying down...but when he is asleep I will move him to his crib. I have no idea how long it will take before Phase 2 is successful.

Phase 3. We will move the bed back to our room. I will nurse Edgar in the rocking chair and put him to sleep in his crib. I may sleep on the air mattress in his room for a while while he adjusts to our bed being gone (and not hearing our sleeping sounds).

Phase 4. We get our bed back. Edgar sleeps happily in his crib. He doesn't nurse every couple of hours, and we all get better sleep.

Hmm. It definitely sounds too good to be true. Still, this is the best plan we could come up with in light of my refusal to let my baby lay in his room alone screaming his little heart out.

Unfortunately, the literature and classes that support co-sleeping, sharing sleep, the family bed, or whatever you want to call it--these sources suggest that your child will let you know when they are ready for their own bed--when they are 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...or older. That doesn't work for us.

And, the literature that has tips for getting baby to sleep on their own are usually vehemently against co-sleeping.

Is there anyone out there that lives somewhere between these two camps? Has anyone else gone through something similar? Any tips for helping baby leave the soft familiar family bed?


DISCLAIMER: I am posting about this, against my better judgement. My better judgement is reminding me that (1) people have VERY strong opinions about how/when/where babies should sleep and that (2) by inviting advice I will most likely just receive criticism.

But, I really would appreciate advice that jives with our do-whatever-works-for-you mentality about raising Edgar! You are, of course, welcomed to criticize me. Just know that I will likely ignore any advice that I don't like! (=

Fun with Pappa Lester

A Tale of Two Zoos

Last weekend we took a last minute trip to Utah in the hopes of meeting Edgar's new cousin. Alas, apparently Cal takes after Tayva's family, because he is 9 days late and counting (love you Tayva!). So, instead, we spent some time visiting the Case Family Zoo and the Hogle Zoo, in the hopes of distracting my very pregnant sister-in-law.

Edgar did pretty well on the car trip down. We stopped at a park on the way down and got some wiggles out...

Yum...old banana and grass!

Our visit to the Case Family Zoo was lots of fun! Edgar particularly enjoyed the interactive exhibits:

Grandpa Lester's face (ooooh! what a fun nose!)

The doting great grandparents.

And all of his Aunties and Uncles---especially Silly Auntie Can-Can and her bling.

We decided to steal Tayva away and distract her. First stop: Hogle Zoo!

My favorite part was our ride on the new "Conservation Carousel"--basically the coolest carousel ever!

Alex and Mr. Giraffe (Alex is impersonating Julie impersonating a giraffe.)

The sexy Stefanie and Kaylee on their jungle cats

The radiant Tayva on her Zebra

And me on Miss Lady Bug!

Pappa Lester and Edgar had a grand time with the Baby Bjorn. There was much dancing and silliness.

Edgar tried the drinking fountain for the first time. Only afterwards did we discover that this water was VERY warm! (weird?!?)

The trip was too short. We didn't get to meet Calvin, but we did really enjoy our time with family.

It was a long trip home, but the boy did very well. We stopped for a break at a rest stop and wanted to reward him with time in his jump-up (his favorite activity). We tried hooking it up to the park pavilion, but his poor little feet didn't touch the ground! It was a hoot! We fixed it with a piled up blanket underneath and fun was had by all. Some lady looked at us very worried and asked if we needed to call someone for help. "Nope," we replied, "just resting on our long car trip!"

I can't wait till Christmastime to go back and play some more! I Love you my crazy family!