Bedtime and Updates

Grig’s appointment went well, I think. We don’t have any real news yet, and now we're going to be waiting for all the paperwork to be sent to the foster care office again, so who knows how long that will take.

Today he also got a piece of metal in his eye at work, and so he had to go and have that looked at. They were able to remove it, and it didn't seem very damaged.

We had an appointment today with our veterinarian, and Siff and Arkhon did super well. The vet was really impressed with their behavior, and she said they were in perfect physical condition...except for their teeth. So, I brushed their teeth tonight, and I’m going to try and continue to do so. We may also need to do a few more things to remove the plaque buildup. Arkhon especially has quite a bit.

Kevin is doing awesome. Last week, we were really beginning to feel defeated. He still ends up in our bed almost every night, and he probably shouldn't be doing that when the foster kids get here. He's also getting bigger, and I don't really like sleeping on the very edge of the bed every night.

However, it's hard to prevent because he always sneaks into our room after we're asleep, and so we don't notice he's in our bed until morning.

So, we were puzzling about what to do about this, when inspiration struck. If we wanted him to stop, he had to choose to stop. So, we decided he might need some incentive. We went online and picked out a set of toys for Kevin. He chose some PJ Mask figures. He really loves that show. For the first toy in the set, he had to earn it by sleeping in his own bed for three nights. For the next toy, he had to sleep in his bed for four nights, and so on. There are five toys total. by the end, he hopefully will have learned how to stay in his own bed.

So far, he's earned one toy. Then, he hit a few days where he couldn't do it again. Then, another idea struck me. I told him that if he wakes up in the middle of the night, that he should wake me up (instead of just climbing into our bed), and I would help him go back to his own bed. He seemed encouraged by that idea.

After I told him that, he slept (mostly) in his own bed last night, and I was pretty proud of him. More importantly, he was really pleased with himself too.

Hopefully it goes even better tonight.

Jump Park Adventure

Yesterday, we were invited by my aunt to go with them to a Trampoline Park.

I'd never been to one before, and I wasn't sure what to expect. It was part of a promotional event for families with children who have Type 1 Diabetes. My cousin was diagnosed recently.

We had a lot of fun with her and her family. Basically, the whole area is set up with trampolines. You can jump from one to another or jump off them onto a rope swing. The rope swing propels you over a bunch of soft square foam blocks that cushion you when you land. There was also a rock wall, which, to my shame, I wasn't able to climb. My arm strength needs to be built up again evidently.

An example of what it kind of looked like. We didn't bring a camera, so this one I found online to demonstrate. This one is in Cedar Park.

Kevin had a great time playing with his cousins and aunt and uncle. There was a kid area, and so my aunt and uncle watched him while Grig and I played with my other cousins. We had a great time with minimal injury.

At one point, I was jumping off of the tramp runway, and I was trying to go really far. I decided to jump on the very edge. I was expecting it to be bouncy, but when I hit that area, it wasn't soft at all and my knee jammed a bit. That kind of hurt, but it isn't too bad.

There were also some areas where the trampoline would be up the wall a bit. You could literally jump up the wall. At the end, we were jumping up the wall, and then spinning to land on our back and sliding down. It was quite fun.

This is an example of what it kind of looks like. This particular one is in Dallas. 

They also fed us dinner and told us about the walk for diabetes that would be taking place in September. We'll hopefully be able to participate in it.

A great mile-marker also occurred last night! I decided that Kevin won't get to nurse anymore during the night. (I know I've probably said that before, but this time I was serious.) Kevin's been waking up every 2-3 hours, and I decided it was because I was letting him nurse a bit before I put him back to sleep. Last night, it took two hours, but when he finally fell back asleep at 2:00, he slept until 8:00 this morning! That was a great thing. If I hadn't woken up briefly with Grig, I would have gotten nearly 6 hours of undisturbed sleep!

Things are going pretty well for us. We have a couple of family reunions coming up, and we're looking forward to them.

Money's a bit tight right now, but it's good for us to continue to learn how to budget and learn to live within our means. I'm sure the lessons we are learning now will serve us well throughout our lives.

Large Bruises and Head-Diapers

On Saturday, it was super hot in our apartment. So, Grig, Kevin, and I decided to go and wade down the river nearby our home.

We had a great time. There are a few really deep bends in the river where the water is over my head, so we could walk and carry Kevin through the shallows and then take turns watching him and swimming in the deeper water. He really enjoyed himself. He loves water, and his favorite game right now is to throw rocks in and watch them splash. He's pretty careful about the water's edge, and he doesn't really like being in the cold water too long, but we still watch him very carefully. All it takes is a moment.

At one point, Grig was swimming in a deeper pool and Kevin and I were playing a game. Kevin would stand on a rock (holding my hand) and then jump off it into the water. It was only waist-deep on him. At first, he would wait until I had put him back on the rock, but by the end he was walking against the current to get back on the rock himself.

As I was just thinking about that, I thought that was pretty applicable to life. At first, we generally can't handle the force of the river (or our trials) on our own, but as we grow stronger and more used to the current, we find that we can struggle and succeed even against the most powerful of forces. Eventually, we can even try to stand on our own. By the end, Kevin was able to stand on the rock and jump into my arms. He loved that.

After that, he started splashing me, which he thought was hilarious. We sat there and laughed for quite a while. I love my little boy's laugh. There's nothing quite like it.

We made it all the way down the river and made a few new friends along the way. A lot of other people had decided to go inner tubing that day as well, and we enjoyed watching them pass us. Sometimes they'd stop and join us in swimming in the deeper water too. A couple of young men in particular started jumping off the shore line with Grig into a deeper pool. They had a good time.

When we got home, I was surprised to find that my calf kind of hurt. The next day, this beauty showed up:

Beautiful colors, no?

Isn't it pretty?

Who knows when I got that. That happens a lot, actually. I don't always notice pain until much later. It must take a long time to travel to my brain. Either that, or my legs were numb from the cold. 

It's probably one of those two.

Yesterday, Kevin came running out of his room with a diaper on his head. I'm not really sure why, maybe he was worried about his head leaking. 

Here's a bit of Kevin-cuteness for you.

Our camera is officially not working. Luckily, Grig has an older camera from before we were married, and we've been able to use that. I'm pretty sad though, I loved my camera. We're planning on saving up for a really nice one. Canon or Nikon? What's your opinion on that?

And finally, for those of you who are wondering, Kevin slept much better last night. Grig got him to go to sleep about 9:30 p.m., but when I went to move him to his bed, he woke up. So, I got him back to sleep (without nursing!) and he slept pretty good until much later in the night. I had been praying that when he came in, I would be awake enough to take him back to his room, and my prayers were answered. It was still tough to want to get out of bed, but I was able to do it. He's still asleep in his room!

Pretty exciting. Hopefully this is where it starts getting easier.

Mormon Monday: Nap-time Miracle

As I have mentioned a few times before, we've been trying to move Kevin into his own room. At the same time, we've started the weaning process.

This last week, Grig didn't have work, with was half-bad and half-wonderful. We had an incredible time doing things together as a family, and Grig and I had a wonderful date. However, due to an entire week off of work, we are going to be scraping the bottom of the barrel financially. One really good thing about it has been that it has really helped with this transition with Kevin.

Kevin's been doing really well with Grig putting him to bed. It's easier for Kevin to go to bed with him, because Grig doesn't even have the option of nursing him. It is harder when it's me for obvious reasons.

This is how Kevin fell asleep the other day. Priceless. 

However, today Grig went back to work and so it was my turn to try and put the baby down without nursing. I was a bit nervous, but I was confident that I would be able to do it.

Last night was a pretty rough night for our family. Kevin went to bed fairly early, but then he woke up about 12:30 a.m. and wanted to nurse. Being half asleep (I hadn't been able to fall asleep until 11:00 or so), I allowed him to nurse. However, at about 2:30 a.m., I was becoming frustrated with it. He wouldn't stop nursing and let me sleep. So, Kevin and I went back to his room and I told him, "No more nursing." He didn't like that idea very much and so he screamed on and off until 3:00, when Grig came in to switch me. I was doing pretty well, but he said he couldn't sleep anyway, so I tried to go back to bed. At one point, Grig came back in, but Kevin woke right back up. It was nearing 3:45 when I told Grig to go lay down and I'd wake in him in 20 minutes so he could get ready for work.

He was getting frustrated at that point, so he gratefully handed Kevin to me and tried to go lay down. However, he finally decided he might as well get ready for work.

He left at 4:40, and Kevin didn't fall asleep until 5:30. When he finally fell asleep, I laid him down and ten minutes later, I heard a little voice say, "Hi?" It was pretty cute, but not entirely welcome. We sat at the computer for a while, and he finally REALLY fell asleep at 6:30 a.m. I took the dog outside, and then we all went back to bed until about 9:30.

Suffice it to say, we didn't get much sleep last night. So, naturally, I thought he'd take a really good nap today.

However, as I tried to get Kevin to go to sleep this afternoon, it wasn't going very smoothly. He was screaming, and no matter what I did, he wouldn't relax.

Desperately, I began to pray.

I know there are a lot of people out there who think that praying is just superstitious nonsense. However, in the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, we know that prayer is not only needful, but necessary. I use prayer every day of my life, and I've never had an unanswered prayer. Sometimes it wasn't the answer I wanted, and sometimes it didn't come right away, but the answer always came.

Today was no different. As I prayed, I felt prompted to set him on the bed and rub his hair. This calmed him down after a little while, and then he began to get upset again. I felt prompted to look into his eyes and tell him why I wanted him to sleep. The instant our gazes locked, he immediately stopped crying. I quietly sang of my love for every part of him and how he would feel much better if he took a nap. After a few minutes, he laid down on his bed and quickly fell asleep as I continued to sing and rub his back.

Prayer works. I can testify that I know this is true. When we don't know what to do or how to make it through our trials, prayer is the answer. The Lord didn't mean for us to pass through this life alone, but if we don't talk to Him and find out his plan for us, we are going to wander alone.

Kevin is still sleeping right now, and I am so grateful that he had such a peaceful way of going to sleep. Hopefully we can continue on this path and transfer peacefully.

I'll just keep praying and having faith that it will work out.

A Late Night and Freezing Rivers

Grig doesn't have work this week (which isn't so good), but we decided not to sit around feeling sorry for ourselves. So yesterday, we spent some time swimming in the cold Utah rivers.

Kevin didn't especially like the freezing water, but he would wade in it up to his knees.

It took a little while to get used to the temperature, but by the end I didn't want to get out of the water. Grig started getting cold, and so I finally climbed onto shore. I found, to my surprise, that my hands were numb with this cold.

Another strange side-effect was that it took me forever to get warm again. Usually the interior of our apartment makes me sweat, but last night I was freezing for the longest time.

Yesterday was also a day of landmarks.

Grig got Kevin to go to sleep last night, which has almost never happened before. It happened briefly on Sunday night. Kevin fell asleep on Grig's head while we were out walking on a trail along the river. Grig really liked that. Last night, he held and rocked Kevin until Kevin drifted off to sleep.

A few hours later, Kevin woke up and I decided that I didn't want to nurse him back to sleep. So, we did battle for about 2 1/2- 3 hours. It was a good night for it. I was full of patience. I didn't force him to lay down, I just laid next to him on his bed and kept him from leaving it. If he would let me, I would hug and kiss him and snuggle with him, but he didn't want me to touch him very often.

Finally, about 3:30 a.m. he gave up the fight. He settled on top of me and fell asleep. That was a nice moment. We're trying to teach him how to fall asleep on his own in his own room, and it has been quite the crazy last couple of weeks.

We're making progress and it's been nice to mostly have our bed back to ourselves.

Grig's going to try and put Kevin to bed again today. We'll see how it goes.

Not Quite Tired Enough

This blog does not refer to Dakota, she's always tired enough.

Lately, we've had some interesting new adventures with Kevin.

He will walk up to me and tell me, in his own frank way, that he is tired and is ready for bed. Usually when this happens, as soon as I lay down with him he will go to sleep. Lately, that hasn't been the case.

Last night when Kevin did this, Grig and I went through the whole bedtime ritual. We brushed teeth together, read scriptures, said prayers, and Grig read him a story. Then we settled down for him to go to sleep. We laid there for a few minutes, and then he got up to play. Even though he was tired, he wasn't quite tired enough.

So, we decided to wear him out a bit more. We took him back out to the living room, and we waited for another 45 minutes. Next time we went back into the bedroom, he fell right asleep.

He's also been overly hungry. He'll be nursing and nursing, but it's like he just can't get enough milk. Which is fine, because then I'll take him out and feed him solid food, and suddenly he'll feel great. He's a growing boy and milk just isn't cutting it for him anymore. Which makes me kind of grateful, and also kind of sad. I guess at 15-months, he's probably ready for more.

Though he's been eating solid food for a long time, he's never shown much interest in eating a lot of it. Mostly, he just nibbles as everything we are eating and then wants to nurse. However, last night he ate an entire bowl of my special version of Rice-a-Roni* (all that was leftover). When he finished, he was definitely full. He barely asked to share the peanut butter and jelly sandwich I was eating for dinner. He actually has all four of his molars now. They are not fully out, but they have breached the surface and they are sharp! He now has the capacity to eat the things he prefers (meat).

The other funny thing that he's been doing lately is what I like to call syncronized sleeping with his father. If you don't know what I'm talking about when I say that, well, a picture is worth a thousand words:

They do this on their own. I just take advantage of it by taking pictures. Notice how the arms are even at the same angle, and the pointer finger of the right hand is slightly elevated above the rest.

I think it's pretty adorable.

Speaking of adorable, Kevin received a gift from his Aunt yesterday. She had made him some cross-stich refrigerator magnets. I was pretty impressed, but Kevin LOVED them. He especially liked the otter that she did without a pattern. Here is Kevin's reaction to the magnets:

I like to call this the face of happiness.

He's a pretty special kid! We sure like him.

*To make the special version of rice-a-roni, simply cook a family-size version beef flavored version, but when you add the water and seasoning, also add a can of black beans, 1-2 cups of corn, and 1/2 a lb of hamburger. Once it boils, lower the heat and cover until most of the water has been absorbed. Then, serve with ranch (I like to add it on top and stir it around) and eat on tortilla chips. It's delicious!