Suggestions, please

Warner's sleeping schedule is wearing me out. A typical day looks like this: wake up at 5:30am (on the nose. The kid has a serious internal alarm clock). Morning nap around 8am, generally 1 1/2 hours. Afternoon nap around 1pm, but generally this is short - 30 minutes to an hour. Bedtime is around 7-7:30, which I can't seem to make later because Warner is absolutely exhausted by this point - can't blame him, since he gets up at 5:30am.

I suppose my only problem with this schedule is the 5:30am wakeup. That's really early, and coffee can only do so much for me. So, what's a mom to do? I've tried putting him to bed later, but as I said, that gets ugly since he's so tired and cranky past 7:30. And, when we've put him to bed at 8pm or later, he STILL gets up at 5:30. Should I feed and change his diaper and 5:30 and try to put him back to sleep? I tried that this morning but Kevin gets up at 6 for work now so it's noisy and Warner probably only slept 30 more minutes or so.

Maybe I should be happy with his sleeping. Until about a month ago he was still getting up 2-3 times a night. So, a stretch from 7:30 to 5:30 is really good, considering how far we've come. Or, maybe I just need more coffee.

Funny Movies

I finally downloaded more videos to our computer and thought I'd share some clips. The first one is a little old, but so funny. Warner thinks it's hilarious when we tell him his feet stink. Please excuse our jammies. :)
The next one is from our trip to Myrtle Beach, where Warner is french-kissing the mirror.

And this is our little man in the pool.

Stand in the place where you live ...

I'm not sure there's anything that gives Warner more joy at this point in his life than standing up. He can't get to a standing position on his own yet, but once he's there he can balance pretty well as long as there's something to lean on. His exersaucer has become way too boring for him unless of course he's exploring it from the outside.And here's a VERY fun activity: playing the piano while standing without Mom's help.What a big boy.

Summer Fun

After Tuesday's uplifting post I'm trying for happy thoughts today. We've had some great summer days! Wednesday morning we walked to our neighborhood pool to meet my friend Kelly and her son Ethan. Warner enjoyed the water and Ethan was a great playmate. He has a lot to teach Warner, since he's a big kid at two and a half. I unfortunately did not get a picture of the boys together - I'll have to next time.

We also went back to the park since it has been so beautiful outside. This was only our second trip to the park, and the first time Warner wasn't that impressed. This time was much better! He started laughing the minute I pushed him in the swing. He even got the hiccups from giggling so much. It was too cute. I think this picture captures the sheer joy he was experiencing.I was also able to get a video of Warner crawling. Enjoy!

Happy Anniversary, Mere

Today would have been Meredith and Justin's two year wedding anniversary. It's been a horrible day for me. I can only imagine how Justin is doing.

It's so gorgeous outside today. The sky is the deepest blue, there is a soft breeze, and it's the perfect temperature. Just like June 17, 2006. Mere and Justin's wedding was the most beautiful wedding I've ever been to (including my own, which says a lot because I'm a bit partial to my own).

I got out Meredith's wedding video today during Warner's morning nap. Meredith made sure everyone she knew had a copy. I could only sit through about five minutes and the whole time I said (out loud) "So beautiful. So beautiful. God, why did you take her?". Here's a suggestion to those who have a copy of the video: don't watch it today. Trust me on this one.

I miss my sister so much my stomach hurts. I know she's with Jesus and happy and whole and healthy. But that doesn't make my loss feel any less severe. If you have a sister, please tell her you love her today.

On the Move

It seems as though Warner will be virtually the same for weeks and then one day he's suddenly hit a milestone, looks so much different, or just seems older to me. That's been happening a lot lately.

He has figured out how to move around. I'm not sure if it qualifies as crawling yet, as he rarely moves around on his hands and knees - it's more of an army crawl or "creeping", but he can move - and fast! He can't pull himself up yet, but he enjoys standing up and holding on to objects for balance while he explores them (the coffee table, sofa, or his exer-saucer from the outside). I've installed some cushion-y bumper-type things around the brick on our hearth as well as outlet covers throughout the house. I'm going to add the door and cabinet locks soon, and I'm sure gates for the stairs will be next.

Warner has also become quite the eater. The book his pediatrician gave us ("Your Child's First Year") has a suggested diet/meal plan for 8-12 month olds that I'm using now (I'm such a book person, I know, I need to just trust my instincts but it's so hard for me). So, he's sort of feeding himself rice cakes and diced fruit and veggies, until he gets tired and then I resort to spoon-feeding again. We've also given him yogurt (loves it) and cottage cheese (not so sure yet). I haven't tried meat yet but probably will soon. He's also taking juice and/or water from a sippy cup (not the spill-proof kind yet, but we'll get there) which is a huge deal since he was a nursing-only kid until very recently.He's also getting more teeth. The top two teeth are peeking through the gums and from the looks of them I'm afraid they're going to be big like his mom's! I'm so thankful for each day I have with Warner and can't believe how quickly my little boy is growing up.

Kevin got a new position at Fidelity so he's now working a "normal" schedule. Praise God! Last night we had dinner together (woah baby, what a treat) and Kevin and Warner got to play a bit before bath and bedtime. We thought we had the best idea when we kept Warner up until 8pm - he's been sleeping from 7/7:30pm until about 5am each night. So we thought we'd keep him up an hour later, in hopes that he'd make it to 6am. No such luck - he was up this morning at 5am ready to go! I think we'll try again tonight, but if he's still up at 5am I'm going back to the 7pm bedtime. Keeping him up until 8pm is brutal, he gets so tired and cranky.

I'm trying to get some good video footage of Warner crawling, so I'll post that soon.

Myrtle Beach

We left last Friday for Myrtle Beach for a vacation with Kevin's parents, his sister, and her family. On Friday we drove to Somerset to pick up Joe and Linda, then drove to Asheville for the night. We finished the drive to the beach Saturday morning. Leslie, Billy, Abby, and Ashley arrived Saturday evening and we all stayed until the following Saturday.
We had the best time playing at the pool and the beach, putt-putting, golfing, eating, shopping, and relaxing. Warner was a hoot in the pool - his feet could touch the bottom of the baby pool while he was in his float, so he was big time going wherever, whenever he pleased. He pretty much went with the flow with the exception of sleeping. We had very long nights as Warner woke up 2, 3, and 4 times a night. Ugh. We're back to letting him cry it out now that we're home and I'm praying he'll get back on his schedule soon.
Here are some pictures from the trip. I of course had a hard time deciding which ones to post so sorry for the quantity!
Warner in the baby pool "cruising" by himself.
Warner in the pool with Nanny.
I figured it would happen - the minute he felt the sand with his hands, they went straight to his mouth. Yum!
I bought the hat and swim trunks together at Target and assumed the hat was for boys since it matched the trunks. But it looks quite girly, I'm afraid. And in this picture it looks like a sombrero.
Myrtle Beach and putt-putt go hand in hand.
Abby got a hole in one!
The best family picture we could capture with Warner.
Warner and Granddaddy in their Hawaiian shirts.
Warner's first carousel ride at Broadway at the Beach. He loved it! He smiled and laughed the whole time.
The cousins at Broadway at the Beach.
Warner's first Build a Bear (actually it's a monkey). Talk about a wild experience! As Kevin's dad says, "only in America".
Warner is trying to get the heck out of the outlet mall. The poor child has done way too much shopping in his seven short months of life.
We all might need a vacation after our vacation to recuperate. We played hard!