As the sun sets on 2010...

Okay, so that is a pretty cliche title. 

But literally, the sun is setting here on the last night of 2010. :)

This past year has been one of the best years of my life.  It makes me sort of sad to see it go.

This year I've had the ultimate blessing of watching and nurturing my sweet tiny newborn into an adventurous toddler.  It's been a year of 'firsts' for us.  First walk outside in the stroller.  First crawl.  First solid food. First tooth.  First steps.  And it's sad to know that year is over.

At the same time, it's beyond exciting to know that so much fun and more 'firsts' await us in 2011!

Maybe a 'first snowcone' this summer.  Definitely a 'first playing on the playground' since he'll be walking running by this summer.

Thank you Lord for blessing Robbie and I with Maverick, and for our wonderful family and friends.

The biggest comfort to me is knowing that God is outside of time.  He knows what is to come in the next days, weeks, and year.  And He will always be there to guide us through whatever comes, and to share His love for us.

Happy New Year!

What a difference a year makes!

It's always so much fun to look through pictures from the past year.  I can't believe Maverick has changed SO much!  Last year he was a month old for his 1st Christmas.  Life was certainly crazy with a newborn and I remember thinking, "When will life be normal again?  Will I ever sleep again!????"

This picture cracks me up!  Maverick slept on the coffee table during all the festivities, and woke every once in a while to eat.  This year he is walking all around that table, banging on it, and even climbing on top.

One of my fondest memories of Mav's first Christmas was being up every couple of hours feeding him, and enjoying the midnight church services broadcasted.  It was so wonderful and serene to wake up to the soft lights of the Christmas tree across the room and the choir music coming from the tv.

The best gift ever!

Our family Christmas "portrait" last year, ha! 

Can't wait to see how much more fun all the festivities will be this year.  Maverick might sort-of know what's going on....maybe, ha!  We didn't buy him anything last year, so it was fun to buy his first 'official' gifts this year.  Under the tree from Mom and Dad will be a metal slinky and a Tonka truck. :)

He is very into pushing cars across the floor and putting things into containers...so I figure he'll love to tote all sorts of stuff around in his new dump truck.

Merry Christmas!

Favorite Photo

This is like the best picture ever, ha!  And it will definitely be in that top ten photos for Maverick's wedding.

I am also SO excited about the next picture because:
 1) I actually look sort-of good, ha!  I am not the most photogenic person in the world (that's why I'm always the photographer).
 2) I have only a handful of pictures of Maverick and I, and this one is just so wonderful!  And it's becoming more apparent everyday that Mav is starting to look more and more like his mother...poor kid!!!



Soooooo I haven't started any Christmas shopping.  But that's true Jenni fashion to wait until the week of Christmas.  I do my best work at the last minute (mostly college essays, thank you).  So I'm excited to get it all done this week.

I'm also VERY excited about only having to work 3 days next week, and then being off until January 3rd!  Besides the one sick day I took the week before last, I haven't called in sick or used any vacation days since going on maternity leave.  I think I earned this time off. :)

Monday is my super special birthday.

Not that I'm planning anything super special, or feel extra super special.

But technically--by definition--it's my super special birthday.

According to the playground rules, a super special birthday is when you turn the age of your birth date.  In my case:  my birthday is December 27th, and this year I am turning 27.

I'm still trying to process the fact that I'm going to be 27.  For whatever reason, that just seems a lot older than 26. Ha!

So I've complied a list of possible things to do on my super special birthday.  I may do nothing, something not on the list, or whatever.  Just fun things to think about.

1) Enjoy a nice coffee.  In a coffeehouse.  Possibly read my "stories" while doing so. (It depends if Mav is with me or not)  FYI--my "stories" is what Robbie calls my guilty pleasure of tabloid magazines.

2) Bake a cake, and put it on display in very seldom used cake dome.

3) Go to a store that I normally can't afford and try on clothes I wouldn't normally try on.  Just for fun. :)

4) Write a letter to myself about the past year, and make aspirations for the next.  (I sort of do this anyway. I've kept a diary since I was in 5th grade)

5) Send my parents a thank you card.  Now that I'm a mommy, I've realized I have a lot of catching up to do on thanking them for all their hard work invested in me. :)

Ready to Fast Forward

...only a few days though!

Poor Maverick has been fighting a couple battles the past couple of days.  First, the doc thinks he has some sort of run-of-the-mill stomach virus (I'm pretty sure that's why I was up puking all night last night).  Except Mav hasn't been puking...it's been the other end, blah!

The other battle is a bad reaction to a vaccine he got last week.  Apparently it can take up to 10 days or so for a bad reaction to occur with injections.  His poor little leg has redness and swelling (about a half dollar size) at the injection site; and he has a red rash all over his body.  At this point it's just a wait and see, so I'm ready to fast forward a few days (with the hope that it all goes away).  The doc shared with me that another baby came in with the same reaction to the same vaccine, so they're doing some investigating.

He's never had a bad reaction before, but this is the first time he's received the MMR vaccine.  Doing a tiny bit of google research (I haaaaaaaaaate googling stuff like this because the results are always the most horrific and rare situations out there) I learned that the MMR vaccine quite often causes the child to break out in a rash that looks similar to the measles, but it's not actual measles.

I'm all about vaccines and I think they are one of the (if not the most) important breakthroughs in medicine.  So many lives have been, and continue to be saved with such a simple and relatively low risk procedure.  Many viruses and diseases have been eradicated because of them, and I think it's important that kids and adults get vaccinated.  But I shall step off my box now. :)

Birthday Hangover

It's Saturday morning...and I've been awake since 7:30am....what am I doing?  Eating a spoonful of cake icing and playing around on Facebook and Blogger of course!

I don't know what it is about my brain that won't switch off when I finally have the opportunity to sleep in on the weekend.  At least I didn't get up at 5:30am like I normally do for work during the week! :)

Maybe I'm still recovering from Maverick's First birthday.  It was really more like a birthday week, ha!  Having your birthday on or very close to a holiday is a lot of fun since you get to see so many family and friends.  (mine is 2 days after Christmas and I love it!!!)

(Mav looks a little annoyed here, but it's because I had him stop playing so I could get a picture of him in his custom birthday shirt--thanks Aunt Linda and Robyn!!)

Maverick is standing by himself all the time now, but he still prefers to crawl everywhere.  Which is totally fine with me, I'm trying to enjoy these last days of not chasing him around like crazy, ha!  Although I'm kept super busy with him climbing on everything.  He climbed on top of the coffee table the other day and about scared me to death! 

He currently LOVES to put things in containers.  Goldfish crackers go into the bowl.  Blocks go into the box.  Refrigerator magnets go into the seat compartment of his new bike.  Animal crackers go into the barn.  (I'm gonna go ahead and say that he is a genius and knows that animals live in barns)

But his most faaaaaaaavorite is the trash can.  Unfortunately. 

We have to hide our kitchen trash can because he loves to stand there and open & close the lid.  Open & close the lid.  Open & close the lid.  Open & close the lid.  Open & close the lid.  Throw a couple things in there.  Open & close the lid.  Open & close the lid...

Which would be great...if it weren't filled with yucky trash! :)

A couple last minute reminders (for my memory's sake):

-Maverick has just about conquered holding his own sippy cup!  We've been working on it for a while, and now he's just about there.  Pretty soon it will seem silly that we were so concerned about it, ha!

-Maverick did great at his 1 yr. check up...except for the shots of course!  I'm sure there were some pretty nervous kiddos in the waiting room after hearing him scream like that.  He is a big'un:  25 lbs (75%) and 32 inches tall (97%).  Mav got the seal of approval and thumbs up from his doctor who said he was just perfect. ;)

Now I'm gonna go make some scrambled eggs so they're ready for when my boys wake up.  I'm excited because today Robbie actually has a Saturday off!!

Maverick is ONE!

Maverick William

November 26, 2009

 The first time Mommy held her son.

 December 2009

I can't believe how TINY he was!

 A very Maverick Christmas!

 January 2010

Making funny faces!

 February 2010

Going for a walk in the stroller outside for the 1st time.

 March 2010

He's got the 'stroller thing' down!

 April 2010

So much sugar, it makes your teeth hurt!

 May 2010

Looking at the Stingrays with Dad at the Zoo.

 June 2010

Summertime is Maverick time!

 July 2010

Watching the fireworks!

 August 2010

Playing in the sand on the beach!

 September 2010

Always having fun!

 October 2010

Such a big boy!

 November 2010

Playing in the leaves!

Thanksgiving Week!!

Okay, so I've been slacking on the blog front. Again. Sorry!!  All I can say is that all my free time recently has been spent on getting our house ready for Maverick's FIRST birthday!  I don't want to make excuses, but it is SO hard to keep a clean house when you have a toddler and work full time, and volunteer time at church, etc, etc.  I have no idea how some people do it!!

Really, it's not that bad.  Really.  It's my front room carpet that has been my biggest pain.  Our dog has completely destroyed that carpet over the past couple of years by "pleasantly" reminding us that its her territory.  Even though I instantly clean it up, the smell lingers.  I've tried everything to get the smell out (including shampooing it twice this week), but unfortunately I think it's all the way down to the padding too.  Currently I have a paste of baking soda and vinegar rubbed into it to set overnight.  I googled "how to get urine smell out of carpet" and kept seeing that recipe, so hopefully it will work!   

On to WAAAAAAAAAAAAY more exciting news:

Maverick took his FIRST STEPS yesterday!!!!!!!!!!!!!

It was completely unexpected.  He hasn't really been able to stand by himself longer than 5-10 seconds without falling.  I was sitting on the carpet watching a movie, and Mav was standing at the computer desk.  He let go and took a step toward me to get to my cell phone.

I almost shattered the windows with the most magnificent squeal!  Maverick giggled too, ha!  He thought it was so hilarious that when I stood him up, he did it again!!  The second time he took 3 steps to the diaper box.

I was SO proud, and so elated.  I reeeeeeeeeeally wish that I could've captured it on film.  Even if I had a video camera, wouldn't have gotten to it.  So it's just a special memory for me. :)  Robbie was at work, and was super bummed that he missed it.  Especially since we've tried to get him to walk since....and he hasn't.  Robbie is starting to think I made the whole thing up, ha!

Since then, we've been able to get him to stand by himself for longer periods of time.  He likes to stand and clap his hands.  There is just something so miraculous about being able to stand on two feet.  Sounds silly, I know.  But it's SO amazing to see this creature who was so helpless not that long ago, be able to stand tall and take a step.  Just think, giraffe mommas experience that within hours of meeting their baby, lol!

I can't believe that its Thanksgiving week.  Craaaaaazy!  I think I've made it known how MUCH I love this holiday...but just in case you didn't know...I LOVE, love, looooooooooove Thanksgiving! :)

I love gathering with my wonderful family and remembering what I'm thankful for.  Even though I always start my prayers with words of thanksgiving and praise, I love really focusing on it this time of year.  And it's also the holiday with the BEST food!  hee hee!  I'm in charge of the green bean casserole this year.

One very special memory I have about this holiday of course is Maverick's birth.  How could his birthday be more appropriate?  My favorite holiday and a full day set aside for Giving Thanks.  God's timing is always perfect, and his sense of humor is the best.  I remember having non-stress tests twice a week towards the end of my pregnancy (because of the gestational diabetes), and the only thing that would get Mav moving was talking about Thanksgiving food.  Little did we know...

I suppose I should save the rest of my memories for his birthday post on Friday.  Unbelievable that a year has passed!!  It seriously seems like it was just yesterday that a nurse woke me up a few hours after having him, and Maverick & I watched the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade while I ate breakfast and Robbie slept on the tiny couch next to us. :)

I should be cleaning!

For those faithful followers, I'm sorry I've been slacking!

However, I have a lot on my plate these days. Lots and lots to do before Maverick's first birthday party!!!

(side note: you probably noticed that you didn't have to log in to view the blog. I am SO sorry for making you guys jump through hoops to read. However, in the end I had a lot of people asking how to read and it was kinda crazy getting it all worked out. I just hope all the creepies stay away, lol!)

The BIGGEST to-do on the pre-party list is cleaning my house.

AGHHHHHHHH!

What was I thinking trying to have 30+ people over at our house???

I'm trying to figure out how I can temporarily shove a ton of stuff into our spare bedroom to accommodate our guests. (btw--if you're coming to our party, don't go in the spare room, ha!) And I gotta figure out how I'm gonna have seating for that many people...I'm thinking Asian style dining!

I hit up the grocery store today to get some food for the party. I was gonna do snacky-type stuff, but cooking a main dish is just easier for me. Plus, the party is at 6:00pm and people will probably like to have dinner!

So what's the go-to cheap dinner for a lot of people??? The wonderful oldie, but goodie---mostaccioli. (I had to run to the pantry to get that spelling off the box of noodles, even spell check couldn't figure out what the heck I was saying!)  One pan with meat, one pan without meat for my non-meaty friends.  Plus I was SO excited to find a great deal on toasted ravioli today at the store.  I got 120 raviolis for $10!

I'm still trying to decide if I want to bake a cake...or just buy one.  Maverick isn't old enough yet to appreciate the awful job I will do baking and decorating a cake, so I'm probably gonna save that for future birthdays.

My goal is to have his baby book currently updated and out for people to read.  We'll see if that actually happens! lol!

SO crazy to think what life was like a year ago.  I was on bed rest, and at the time thought that I would die from boredom.  Oh to be "forbidden" from getting off the couch!!  Plus, I was so nervous about bringing a baby home...and sooooooooo excited to meet our little guy.  I wish they didn't grow up so quickly!

OH--and one last thing: Maverick started whole milk today!!  Not only is he completely on sippy cups now (today I packed up the last of his bottles, sniffle sniffle) but we are weaning on to whole milk.  I figured that he is close enough to a year old to start.  He didn't even notice.  It was only 2 ounces in a 6 ounce bottle. (errr, sippy cup).  Hopefully his little tummy won't mind.

Is it over yet?

'Twas the night before the election...

I am SO ready for this election to be over with! And I don't even live in a highly contested place like Arizona. Oi, it's all giving me a headache.

And I want my commercials back!!!!!!!!

It's all so frustrating because I can't trust any politician. Cause, well, you know...politics get in the way. They all promise "blah blah blah". But it never comes to fruition because the reality is that once they get into office there are tons of other people that have a say. Or, they run on a platform but then later get wishy washy about it because they are looking for votes.

With that said, happy voting day eve!

Ta da!

Okay, the bloggy is now private. Hopefully you figured out what to do, ha ha! All I had to do was invite you through your email...so I'm not sure what other steps you had to take after that. :)

Gonna work on some more elaborate posts for you, lol!

Tomorrow is Maverick's first Halloween, yay! Hopefully he will like wearing his costume more than he did today. I put it on him to get him more used to wearing it, and he did not like it!!! I have a feeling it's going to be on barely long enough to get some pictures of him tomorrow.

Halloween is also my mother-in-law's birthday! So we're gonna take Mav to a couple houses in our neighborhood, then go over to Robbie's parents' house and celebrate Patty's birthday. What a fun day to have your birthday on!

Wow!

I never thought that anyone would be very interested in my ramblings and going-ons about our lives, lol! It's very humbling to know that I have friends who like to read my blog. Now I've been inspired to keep it going! Privately, of course. :)

With that said, I haven't set anything up yet. Obviously, ha ha! Everyone who has contacted me thus far will be given the info once its available.

Even though almost all the pictures I post on here are usually posted on Facebook as well, blogger is a great way to elaborate on the stories behind them.

Thank you everyone for enjoying our family memories with us! :)

It's been awhile

I've been in sort of a contemplative mood lately about this blog--inspired from a random quote I heard on tv. (hence the lack of motivation to post, sorry)

What's funny is I can't remember who said it. The blurb was something along the lines of: "Our children are going to have to work hard to erase their pasts because their parents published every little move they made on the internet."

Silly, I know. But it got me thinking. Mostly about the fact that I don't know who reads this blog, so that freaks me out a little.

You never know if there are creepy creepers out there. So I'm really thinking for the first time in 2+ years of going private with this blog. (which means you can only see this website if I invite you) Not that there are hundreds, or heck, even more than 5 people that read this blog. But I just want the best for my family.

So there, I think it's officially decided. I'm gonna go private with this blog in about a week. I figure that's a good time frame, ha ha!

To my loyal readers:

If you'd like to be invited to view this site, please let me know in person, email, or Facebook. If you don't know me through one of those avenues...then I probably don't know you, lol! But you can leave a comment if you'd like to be included. And don't be afraid to ask. When some other blogs I used to read suddenly went private, I was too embarrassed to ask, and I wished I had spoken up!!!

I just want to make sure you aren't a creepy creeper, ha ha!

In the meantime, enjoy some more photos! :)


All the buzz around here this past week is the new addition to our family. We've been shopping for a new vehicle for almost a year, and I'm so glad to be done! It's exciting for us because neither one of us has never owned a vehicle so new or fancy before. It's a 2008 Jeep Liberty Limited, with the SkySlider roof. We love having 2 Jeeps in our garage. The other one is a 2001 Jeep (NOT Grand) Cherokee. :) We have been blessed!



Lately when I feel something on my leg, this is what I look down and see. I love it!


Of the gazillions of photos I have of Maverick, I only have a couple handfulls of me and him. Makes me sad, but we're usually without a photographer. lol! I have to attempt photos taken in the bathroom mirror. :)


This is our ferocious wolf beast. Okay, its just our dog Belle. Yawning. In a shadow.


And finally, this wonderful face. Gummy grin and all. It seems like it is taking an eternity to get any more teeth. He popped the 2 bottom teeth up in about a week, but that was all the way back in August. His top 2 teeth are literally bulging at the surface but refuse to go any further apparently.

Those better come in so he can eat birthday cake in a little over a month. :)

Holy guacamole on crackers!!! Can you BELIEVE it's been almost a year????!!!!
My heart swells to think about it.

You know you don't want to miss the FIRST birthday fun, so ask to be invited to read the blog today! :)

Costume preview

Here is a preview of Mav's first Halloween costume!



At first he LOVED wearing it. But that lasted a whole 6 minutes. I think only having a diaper on underneath made it a little scratchy. After that he wanted it OFF!

He rolled around crying on the floor until I took it off him.



Mavzilla destroying the countryside!!



Still not sure how we're gonna do Halloween. I figure we'll either "walk" around the neighborhood with him, or find some sort of public event to attend.

I've always felt kinda weird handing out candy to adults holding their babies (who obviously are not going to reap the benefit of being lugged around the block in an uncomfortable costume...but isn't that what kids are for?)

Gotta enjoy the candy stash now before it becomes harder to steal from their candy buckets. :)

I remember knowing if anyone had stolen anything out of my Halloween candy bucket. I had that thing inventoried and secured before getting back to the house!


I also wanted to post some pics on here for my dad (after all he is my most loyal reader). He bought Maverick the cutest hat ever that says "Lil' Buck". I took Mav to the park while he wore it, and 4 or 5 people stopped to say how cute his hat was. (I'd like to think it may have something to do with the kid wearing it, ha ha!)



He'll only actually wear it if we are outside and the scenery distracts him.



Otherwise he loves to play the "I'm gonna pull it off!!" game. Which is fun too!



I bet grandpa can't wait to take him out to the farm. :)

Daddy's Little Wingman

Okay...so by tomorrow, I actually meant like 5 days, ha! Here are a few cute pics of Maverick wearing his "Top Gun" shirt his Aunt Jo bought him. :)



His shirt says, "Daddy's Little Wingman"



I love those wrinkly faced smiles! (he snorts when he smiles like that)

Pictures tomorrow, I promise!

Sorry that this is the 2nd post without pictures, gasp! I promise I will have some up tomorrow or Sunday. Sunday Maverick turns 10 months old! Holy Guacamole!!!!!

I'm supposed to be enjoying some "me" time right now. Robbie took Mav to friday night youth group, and I stayed home to relax away my headache. It's funny though, all I've done since they've left is clean the house, ha ha! I tried sitting on the sofa...but the house was just glaring at me...and I couldn't relax in such a crazy mess. So pretty much all my usual Saturday cleaning is done tonight. :)

It's funny--what takes me 3 to 5 hours on Saturdays to get clean, I finished in an less than an hour tonight! I forgot how nice it is to clean a house without my son climbing up my leg, ha!

Loaded the dishwasher without him climbing into it, or pulling the dishes out.

Cleaned the bathroom without having to detain Mav to the crib. (he likes to climb into the bathtub)

Did a load of laundry without carrying Maverick in the basket. (which is sort of fun, I have to admit)

Vacuumed the floor without having to put Maverick in his Jeep walker. (he likes to pull the vacuum over...while I'm vacuuming)

Restocked the nursery supplies (diapers, wipes, etc) without Mav climbing up the changing table and pulling everything off the shelves. (but I kept the boxes, he LOVES those)

And then I poured a nice glass of diet pepsi and grabbed a bag of goldfish crackers. (without Mav pulling on my arm, with his mouth open for a cracker)


Now...to enjoy some Netflix.

Except, I'm feeling kinda lonely. Hope the boys come back soon! :)

Late Night Post

Ah, this is nice. As I type it's almost midnight. The house is very quite (except the occasional rumble of thunder) with everyone, including the dog, fast asleep. And the best part is sitting at my computer in front of two big windows watching the rest of the storm rumble on to the next city. Oh, and enjoying one of my favorite snacks--which is chips'n'salsa.

Here in the midwest a storm usually blows out as quickly as it blows in, but not tonight. It's been a while since we've had severe storms hang around for a few hours without fizzling out. We pulled the Jeep in the garage because it started to hail, and we lost our power for a bit. It's been one of those really awesome electrical storms with the beautiful lightning that scurries across the sky.

Fortunately the crazy weather doesn't phase Maverick when he's sleeping. Although, tonight as I was walking home from my parents' house (I love that they live close enough to walk to!) the lightning was starting to light up the sky and Maverick cried the whole way home. Not sure if he was crying at the lightning or the bumpy ride from me running us the entire way home. :)

I can't believe this week marks the beginning of fall. Fall is my favorite time of year!! Halloween is fun, but my heart LOVES Thanksgiving and Christmas. There is just no better time of year. I may or may not start listening to Christmas music by the middle of October...

The holidays have always been such a wonderful thing to look forward to. As crazy as it gets with us, I love getting together with all my family. Such wonderful memories! I love all my family so much, they are awesome.

And this year we get to celebrate Maverick's first birthday! It is SO perfect that he was born on Thanksgiving. God is just cool like that. :) Something I'll never forget--during one of my last NST's of my pregnancy the nurse was trying everything to get Maverick to be active for the monitoring (drinking orange juice, etc).

Once the nurse and I started talking about all the things we love about Thanksgiving, Maverick started moving and kicking around like crazy! He must have been planning his visit. :)

Maverick's (current) holy grail

This week has been MUCH better with bath and bedtime. :) Woo hoo! Still not sure why all the craziness...but we survived, ha!

I wish I had a video camera other than my phone. Maybe I'll score one for my birthday or Christmas. This week Mav is perfecting the "tongue click". Its so cute! It' pretty easy to get him to do it, since he's really into mimicking right now.

Everyday Maverick's sole purpose is to reach the holy grail--which is apparently the keyboard and mouse to our desktop computer. He grunts, whines, cries, and fully extends to his tippy toes to play with them. This is what I usually see almost every minute of everyday, ha ha!



Look at ALL the other stuff he could be getting into. Only the keyboard and mouse will do.



If you're wondering why we have diaper boxes everywhere, it's our temporary solution to Mav climbing on everything and keeping him away from power cords and stuff.


(He knows the sound of the camera switch. It's almost impossible to get a candid shot anymore!)

Mav is getting pretty brave with the furniture cruising. If he's standing next to the couch, he will extend his hand and transfer to the coffee table. (which often results with a bump on the head)

My kid thinks he is a dog, I think. It makes sense. The only other creature in the house his size is a perfect role model: using all fours to get around, playing with toys on the ground, scrounging for food, and communicating through grunts. Ha ha!

If I'd let him, he'd go outside with Belle too. (maybe that's a good idea when potty training arrives!) This is where he watches her while she's out there. Just stands there with his nose against the window.



But then he gets SO happy when I let her back in.



And they can continue their daily antics together. :)

What happened?!

Maybe it's just been a bad 2 weeks for bedtime around here...but I'm starting to really miss how easy it was to give Maverick a bath and put him to bed when he was a small baby. (and I thought that was hard!)

Let's start with bath time. It was so easy to put him in the little baby tub, and he just laid there buggy-eyed while I washed him. The only 'tricky' part was making sure everything was rinsed well. (sigh)

Apparently Maverick thinks sitting down for baths are too babyish now. He gets SO excited to see his reflection in the knob that he goes C R A Z Y trying everything he can to get to it.

I end up soaked and covered in soap, with a death grip on Maverick so that he doesn't slip and fall while he's thrashing around. Picture a 3 yr old tantrum (stiff body, red faced one minute and wildly flinging arms & legs the next).

I tried covering up the knob. No bueno. Dern "object permanence memory"! ;)

Meanwhile, after the crazy bath comes bedtime. Which used to be so lovely, ha ha! I could lay Mav down in his crib while he was still awake, and he would seriously soothe himself to sleep. No problems at all. And he would sleep straight through 10 hours. Or even better, he would just fall asleep before he finished his night bottle.

Now, after his night bottle and we start walking down the dark hallway, he is already squirming to get out of my arms. He doesn't want to be held (because that would make him succumb to his obvious need of sleep), but then as soon as I lay him down he screams.

What ends up happening is this: I lay him down. He cries. After a few min I come in and soothe him. He cries when I leave. Repeat for 30 minutes until he finally falls asleep.

And then he wakes up at least once a night now, if not two or three times. If I don't get up and rock him back to sleep, who knows how long he would stay up. Yikes!

Please tell me this is just a phase!

Meanwhile, seeing this face all day does make it worth it I suppose. :)