Baby-versary: and cousin makes two...

So last night I had the pleasure of watching my niece Madelyn. For the first time, EVER. That’s right. In almost a year’s time at 10 months, this is the first time I watched her. Crazy, right?? Or as Christy said its CAH-RAZZZY. On Thursdays it is Alfie’s pool league night, so I pulled a solito (little solo en espanol) and watched 2 babies for the evening. It’s interesting to see the personality differences between Madelyn and Colton, at such a young age. Colton is more the "risk taker" and Maddie the more cautious thinker. I can easily imagine Colton to say "Come on Madds try pulling Nelly's tail" and Madelyn responding with "Are you suuuuure that’s a good idea?? Seems kind of risky." Colton doesn't mind bigger crowds, while Maddie is not a fan. And my favorite thing about Maddie, is she is a lovie!! That girl gives hugs and likes to cuddle and be on your lap, while Colton is "huh? Cuddle what?? Mommm I’m playing!!" lol It’s too funny.

So yesterday, I picked up the babies and as we headed home, we stopped by WCS to see Uncle Fer and watch a WCS soccer game. As the team scored the final goal before halftime and the crowd went wild, little Miss Maddicus also went wild, like meltdown type wild, with some serious tears. The well meaning cheering fans had scared Madds. Poor girl. Luckily a well timed snack of Cheerios quickly ended the cry session and with Uncle Fer's help we packed up and headed home. I had briefly figured out how I would bring two babies into the house. But was hoping I was home early enough to have alfie there and he could help. And YES, bullet dodged! He was home and grabbed Colton while I snagged Madelyn. She wasn't too sure of Uncle Alfie at first but she warmed up soon enough. Enter Nelly. Nelly is our mildly crazed cat. We often say we should have named her Kevin, since she is the cat version of Kevin from the office... crazy weird, not all there and hilarious (so we made it her honorary middle name). But anyways, she enjoyed Nelly from a distance but when Nelly would come near, she would grab onto me and climb up me. And then there was Colty...pointing and touching Nelly, looking at Maddie as if to say "Look at my cat! Look! Look how fun he is." But Maddie had a "run in" with Nells when I had stepped away, as Maddie was looking at a book, next thing she knew Nelly was standing beside her. Madelyn FROZE. I'd never seen her so still. Almost as if to say, maybe if I don't move, she won’t know I am here. And it seemed to work, because Nelly moved on by and Maddie BOOKED it towards Colty. It was a funny baby moment. After that Nelly pretty much stayed away, and Maddie enjoyed the new books and new toys that Colton showed off shared. Getting dinner for 2 babies and only 1 highchair was kind of tricky, but Colton was nice about going through my purse showing Maddie the ropes when I put him down in the kitchen. And after a quick heat up of grilled cheese sans crust, all cut into bite size pieces, Madds went into the highchair and Colton on my lap. Dinner = Success. Maddie devoured my meal, I’m chalking it up to my excellent culinary skills (and not the fact that she is like me and will eat and enjoy anything!). Colton on the other hand is a slooooow eater. So we shared some of Colton’s sandwich with Maddie, who had finished hers. I placed them with their bottles in the family room watching Veggie Tales together while I got my grub on. Holla. Hot dogs and beans! Ya ya Franks and beans, whatever. I love them long time... so good lol. I’m pretty sure I ate half the can and 2 hot dogs. WHAT. Me so hungry! Momma be awful when it comes to self control. (I’m obese at heart....or maybe at stomach?). After that it was smooth sailing. I tried leaving the TV on but Madds is a television LOVER, so she got a bit distracted from playing, so we fixed that and left it off. And before long, Ms. Sickly Christy showed up (lookin like she dropped 10lbs! Shoulda had her cough on me, I could use a case of acute bronchitis to help these last 10lbs come off.) Colton did his best showing off of his new walking skills and teetered around the foyer, then busted out a "here's lookin at you kid" gun finger point that had Titi and Maddie chuckling as they headed out the door. and with a quick nighttime bottle, Colton was asleep in minutes and I got my Barnyard birthday craft on, followed by another viewing of the Yellow Jackets on the Singoff, ok 2 viewings, and one MAY or may not have been dancing around the living room to the second run through....just saying. I may have had to burn off that sandwich and chips one May or may not have downed during the first viewing (told ya, completely obese at heart). For those keeping track, yes you saw that right, thats 2 FULL meals in under 2 hours for 1 person. So sad....Then it was off to bed for me! Thank the Lord it is Friday!!

Get yo Sleep on....

Confession: We are attempting to get Colton to crib sleep.

and I don't like it. Ok, I quasi like it. Because as I look at his adorable slumbering face, I just want to scoop him up, kiss those super soft cheeks and snuggle with him. And that's not possible when he is in his baby jail crib. And while one part feels that way, the other part KNOWS he NEEDS to sleep in his bed, especially for safety reasons, pretty much because our bed is a bit high for him to fall out of and not get hurt. Especially since he has a habit of crawling to the edge and not realizing he will fall. Anyways, we hit night two last night, but let me not get ahead of myself....

Night 1: My sister and brother in law have been working with Maddie for a few days, trying to get her to crib sleep, (yeah, it’s a family thing to co-sleep...) and apparently she cries for a loooong time as told by her daddy, since her momma has always been a quick and deep sleeper and doesn't hear the cries (like home girl can sleep ANYWHERE... ask her about her first date with Ben... wouldn't it be funny if she fell asleep on it?? even funnier if it was at a movie theater!! true story.) Anyways, so Maddie's poor daddy has to listen to his baby girl wail and probably scream "DADDY COME SAVE ME" (cause yeah, Madds can talk....like real words talk...kitty cat, dog, Titi, Lita, and duck....she is a serious wonderkid) so I KNEW it was going to be rough listening to Colton cry. We got him prepped for bed, turned on the TV to the Christian radio (he has been listening to this since the womb) and said good night and lowered him into the crib. The second he feels the mattress, lil thing starts crying, and crying and crying! For me it felt like 45 minutes, to Alfie only 20. And luckily Susan was over helping me with my hair, so I was not even able to go grab C. We let him keep crying and after a while Alfie went back up to pop in the pacifier and lay on the floor to offer comfort. Sleep FINALLY won out. AND he only woke up a few times when his paci fell out, but went right back to sleep. Bummer ( ok, not really) though at 2am he started crying again, so momma got her bed snuggles in with Colty until morning.

Night 2: Now, Alfie put Colton to bed the first night, and since I am the usual putter- to-bedder I was pretty much expecting crazy clinging and hysterics and pretty much awfulness. I let Colton stay up and play later than usual since he was being a good Kitty (yeah, we have read "the good little kittens" one too many times) and by the time 8:30 rolled around, quickly followed by some baby eye rubs, I knew it was time. Mentally prepping myself for the worst, I grabbed his lovey blanket (best thing ALIVE) and his pacifier and prepped the room and kissed him goodnight. Into the crib he went. Cue crying. Cried as I walked downstairs, as I walked into the kitchen, as I poured a drink and then as I sat down on the couch there was...silence. HUH. Silence. NO WAY. Silence. It doesn’t really happen like this! Too good to be true! 5 minutes of crying. So of course my mommy imagination went "OMG something happened" which then forced me to go check on him. Silently I crawled up the stairs and poked my head into the room and heard him "double" breathing, you know the kind you do after a hard cry. Yeah he was doing that. So all good. He was alive. Home boy made one or two peeps the rest of the night. THE REST OF THE NIGHT! No joke. He even slept through me putting pants on him (poor lil legs were too cold with the a/c on) and only woke up at 6:30am when I put him in the car seat to take him to moms.

So Night 1: FAIL; Night 2: WIN; Wonder what Night 3 will bring us.... Hopefully another good Kitty who falls asleep with ease and doesn't freak the eff out!