Putting Cash to Sleep

Many of the parenting books advise that at this age we should be letting Cash fall asleep on his own, by putting him in his crib "drowsy but awake" and leaving the room. Although I will say that Cash has, on a few rare occasions, done just that, for the most part that sentiment is great in theory. Here's a sampling of reality:

5:50 pm Cash yawns and fusses, signaling it's time for bed.
Diaper change. Fussing. PJs. Fussing. Begin rocking and reading Time For Bed. Increased fussing. Stop reading after page four.
Fan on. Music on. Lights off.
Swaddle right arm. Swaddle left arm. Re-swaddle right arm. Re-swaddle left arm while holding right arm.
Fuss. Fuss. Fuss.
Put Cash against shoulder and initiate simultaneous bounce-pat-shush sequence. Cash yawns...and fusses.

6:05pm Think, Maybe he'll be asleep by 6:15
Fussing decreases. Lower Cash in front of my body and initiate jiggle-dance-shush sequence. Fussing increases. Fussing decreases. Cash's eye close.

6:10pm Transfer Cash's weight from my body to my arms. Cash's eyes open and body stiffens. Fussing. Jiggle more intensely. Dang, this kid weighs a TON!

6:15pm First attempt to lower Cash to the crib. Fails. Repeat bounce-pat-shush sequence.

6:18pm Second attempt to lower Cash to the crib. WHAAAAAAAAAH! Repeat jiggle-shush sequence.

6:23pm Third attempt. Almost...almost...oh no!!! Mick relieves me.

6:25pm Think seriously about banging my head against the wall.

6:35pm I go in to relieve Mick. Cash is now straight-jacket-Houdini swaddled.

6:40pm I'm hunched over the crib. Cash is asleep. My hands are still underneath him. Left hand free. Right hand free. Sneak out the door.
Thank God that's over.

8:15pm Mick and I look at each other and say, "We miss Cash."

9:30pm Fussing

Merry Christmas!

The Cash Man Giggles

Here's our little dude laughing. It's a new development, and a welcome one, as the poor guy has been pretty fussy lately. The lighting is not the best as it was taken VERY early in the AM.

Before I was a mom...

Before I was a mom, I was unfamiliar with 2am.

Before I was a mom, my whole house was clean at the same time.

Before I was a mom, reading things that didn't rhyme didn't seem strange to me.

Before I was a mom, my eyebrows were always tweezed.

Before I was a mom, I didn't know that it takes two days before my hair has to be washed.

Before I was a mom, I would never change my diet in hopes of helping someone else feel better.

Before I was a mom, I'd never been peed on, thrown up on, or smelled like spit up.

Before I was a mom, I didn't know it was possible to be completely in love with two men.

Before I was a mom, I would've fixed the hair that's falling out of my ponytail.

Before I was a mom, I watched television programs from start to finish.

Before I was a mom, I didn't know that a person can still function quite well on months of minimal broken sleep.

Before I was a mom, I didn't use words like poopy, feetsies, or tum-tum.

Before I was a mom, the sound of a baby crying would've been annoying.

Before I was a mom, I didn't laugh at drooling, bald men.

Before I was a mom, my dog got more attention.

Before I was a mom, I'd never gotten a flu shot.

Before I was a mom, I had time to chew my food.

Before I was a mom, I didn't know what I was missing.

This is how we roll.

Check out our son's mad skills! This is actually the second time he did it beccause I only got half of the first roll on video. What a big boy he's becoming.

Get ready for an onslaught of random things...

It's been awhile since I've had time to post so here's what we've been up to:


Last weekend we went to Holiday in the Park, which was a cute festival in League City. We felt super privledged because Reagan was working there and she hooked us up with parking behind the barricades - a real treat when you're toting baby gear. It was fun for us to spend such a good portion of the day outside with Cash.


Cash is three-and-a-half months old now. He is quite the chunker, weighing in at over fourteen pounds. He's has really changed in the last few weeks and become more interactive and talkative. He is sleeping much better during the day, which allows for multiple "good" times throughout the day. He's begun to really laugh, and although we've yet to get a good one on video, we did record him ROLLING OVER this morning! (OK, so Mick might had help a tiny bit, but I bet he does it all by himself very soon. It's hard work to flip that turkey leg all the way over!)

We had our first annual Cookie-Palooza a couple of nights ago. Reagan and I wanted to give a little something to our neighbors and friends, which meant baking and packaging a ton of sugar cookies, candy cane cookies, fudge, chocolate-covered pretzels and chocolate-peppermint holiday bark. It was enough to give anyone a sugar high for the next decade, but a lot of fun.











Lastly, it SNOWED here last night! I was so excited I wanted to wake Cash up so he could see his first snowfall, but since I know better than to make a rookie move like that, we waited until this morning to bundle him up and take him outside before it all melted away. Yea! It really feels like winter - and, bonus(!), the mosquitoes should finally all be dead. Praise God!