Christmas Decorating

Well, I've been doing some holiday decorating. It's been fun. I went to Michael's, Garden Ridge, and Costco and got some cute things. I embelished a wreath a bit and I created my own personal garland with several different plain garlands and decorations. I love the white peacocks I found at Garden Ridge. I like sparkly things but not too sparkly and I feel like it worked out pretty well. I didn't spend a lot of money or spend a lot of time on it, so my goal was met for this particular year. I think I might try to get a shot of the outdoor Christmas lights and garland along the front of the house. Scott put them up and they look really good at night.

Sleeping arrangements answered

This post is for Jeni, specifically. Thank you so much for asking how things are going with Evan's sleep habits. I haven't logged onto my blog since my last post so this response is a little late.
Things are getting better, but very slowly.

Ever since we first started putting Evan in his nursery to sleep (when he was 6 months old), I have been crystal clear that we need to let him self soothe as much as possible so he can sleep by himself. Scott has always had a problem with this concept. Evan's cries hit Scott in a primal way and he will even go so far as to get him in the middle of the night and not realize he's doing it. It's some kind of sleepwalking thing. That's not always the case, but when he's really tired he'll do that. The other times, he just convinces himself that something is really wrong with Evan (like maybe a scorpion bite, or diarrhea, etc.) and goes in there to get him.

Our relationship has been having some problems lately and this is definitely exacerbating it. Since I put the toddler bed in Evan's room, Scott has been relegated to the guest room for most nights. It's farther away from Evan and he turns on the Air Conditioning to drown out the noise. This has helped a lot--but only when Scott is in the guest room. A few days of he guest room and he's back saying he will stay out of Evan's room and moves back into our room. Evan has gotten a lot better about staying asleep in his bed but he tends to wake up at least once and cries out but goes back to sleep. It is not a big deal, but if Scott is in the master bedroom, he gets up and does the WRONG thing again.

At this point, I want Scott to stay in the guest room indefinitely. Unfortunately, it seems to make life easier on Evan and me.

Toddler Bed

I braved Black Friday to go out and buy a Toddler Bed and Baby Gate. I was determined to get this sleep thing under control. I put the gate up on Evan's door and put the bed together myself while Scott watched the UT / A&M game.

I planned to read to Evan in his new bed at bedtime but he fell asleep with Scott in front of the TV. That was the first sign that things were not going my way. Evan was placed in his bed, along with his favorite stuffed animals, and I scattered some of his books and toys around the nursery so he could entertain himself if he woke up and didn't want to stay in his new bed.

Scott and I turned in around 9pm---still exhausted.

I guess about an hour after that, Evan woke up very upset. From then on, it was all about Scott trying to placate Evan. Sometime in the middle of the night, Scott brought the air mattress into the nursery and slept next to Evan's bed. Didn't stop Evan from waking up, though, to make sure Daddy was still next to him during the night.

I got to hear all of this. The nursery is next to our room and they might as well have been in the same room as me. Still no good sleep.

Evan woke up around 5:30am, as usual, all perky.

I am annoyed.

Chilly Thanksgiving

Well, earlier this month it was Scott's birthday. I baked him a chocolate cake and we went out to eat while my sister babysat Evan. I miss going out to nice restaurants. We need to get out more.

I wondered if it was going to be cold on Thanksgiving. With the very warm temperatures we've had this Fall, I didn't quite believe the weatherman when he said it would turn cold overnight. Sure enough, it did.

I cooked Thanksgiving dinner here and had my sister over to eat with us. Scott and I are exhausted. We haven't had a decent night's sleep in about a week. Scott had the great idea to go to his family's yearly early-Thanksgiving / Reunion out in Abilene and then travel on to New Mexico to visit more with other members of his family. I didn't think it was such a hot idea b/c Evan is into EVERYTHING nowadays and we never sleep when we have to travel with him. Scott felt differently, so I acquiesced. We, of course, ended up not sleeping for the entire trip (Evan tosses like a fish and wakes up continuously when he's in a new environment) but we looked forward to getting some rest when we got home.

The first night home, though, Evan learned how to climb out of his crib and went running through the dark house, screaming his little head off. Scott took the box spring off the guest bed and thought we could let Evan sleep on the guest mattress temporarily until we got a toddler bed. He woke up, running around screaming again. The next night, Scott lowered the crib mattress to its lowest setting and declared that there was "no way he [was] going to climb out of that". That night we put him back in his crib and, guess what, same thing happened again.

The problem is that he can't climb back into the crib and is so upset that he won't go back to sleep. We try to let him sleep with us but he tosses like a fish. He has a little cold and gets very congested at night, too. Nobody is sleeping and we are all cranky.

I am going out today to buy a baby gate and toddler bed. We are probably going to have to go through a few more sleepless nights while he gets used to the new bed and being "gated" in his room.

Oh well.

Halloween

I decided that Evan's costume would be tied in with our home life this year, so I got him a chicken outfit for Halloween. I had hoped to get all of the chickens around him to make the photograph look like he was just another chick in the coop. Unfortunately, neither chickens, nor Evan pose for pictures when asked, so I was lucky to get what I got.

Also, I don't know if I mentioned this earlier but Eleanor has gotten into the habit of jumping on me when I'm outside. She usually jumps onto my head and then I gently push her down to my arm. I guess it's fun for her b/c she seems to enjoy spending time riding on my head and/or arm. She's sweet. Anyway, Scott took a picture of her once and when I was photographing Evan, I got another pic of her hanging out on ME. She's a hoot.

I'm planning on taking Evan into town for Halloween to what it's all about. I hope it goes well...

The Chicks Are Growing Up

Wow, my little chicks look so different now. They are feathered out and look sort of like miniature copies of adult chickens. They are very cute. They have claimed the hummingbird garden as their turf. The older chickens don't normally hang out there so I guess they decided to take up residence there. They are kind of making a mess of it, though. They love to scratch and kick a lot of the mulch out of the garden and onto the walkways. I feel like I'm constantly sweeping it back in the garden. That's OK, though, b/c it seems to keep them entertained.

Evan is still addicted to the water hose. Anytime he sees it on, he runs for it. He ends up soaking wet but very happy.

Lucy past away

Something Killed Lucy Today.

She had a big gash in her side and there were two places under my "Hummingbird" Oak Tree that were scattered with white feathers.

I was out running errands and having lunch with my sister midday, which is when it happened.

She was a very good and very sweet chicken.

I'll miss her.