I am getting very sleepy...

So you've probably noticed how I've been tweaking around here. I've been trying to simplify things on my blog because I'm not a fan of clutter... I am sure if you've been to my house you would beg to differ, ha! Anyway, I'm not finished. I just wanted to let you know that I'm simplifying.

Anyway, I haven't slept very well the past couple nights. Friday night I took a sleep aid and it still knocked me off big time, and last night I couldn't get tired either. Today I have been really dragging but I have held out from taking a nap like I usually do so I can get on track. I am probably going to give in to an early bedtime. I don't think my head will allow me to stay up too late.

It's kind of funny that today's 30 Days of Music is : day 10 - a song that makes you fall asleep. Funny because I can't sleep with noise in the background {usually. When I was pregnant I could sleep anywhere.}, even the sleepiest music. So Hubby suggested I just do a song that makes me sleepy.

Sigur Ros - Glósóli

Sigure Ros is an Icelandic band that I really like. This song has a sort of ethereal feel to it that sort of makes me sleepy.

Bedtime

I love bedtime in our house, both that of Benjamin's and my own. It isn't because I just can't wait to get Benjamin off to sleep {though that sometimes is a perk... we all know we mommies need a break!}. Bedtime is usually very fun and happy. I love when Benjamin lays down with a smile on his {pacified} face. It is very heartwarming to know he is going to bed happy.

Tonight I took pictures of bedtime with Benjamin. First, Benjamin splashed around in the bathtub.






Then he got dressed on Mommy and Daddy's bed.


{And that is a double-stuffed BumGenius diaper, in case any of you CD mommies are wondering. We put a regular insert with a flatfold on top of that in there for nighttime diapers.}

And then...



Benjamin and Daddy played for just a moment more.



And then Daddy helped Benjamin brush his teeth.



After exchanging some kisses, and cuddling up close with his Eyore while snuggling under his Winnie the Pooh blanket, Benjamin was down for the night.

And I can't wait to see his smiling face in the morning.

Photogenic.

The great thing about having such a precious, adorable, beautiful, blonde-haired-blue-eyed, chubby-cheeked, ham-of-a child is that he is very, very photogenic and loves the camera.

Well ...

Most of the time.









Yesterday, dear little Benjamin was in one of his moods. I mean, if you can't already tell. And to be honest, due to his wake-up calls 5 times during the night, I was feeling a little cranky as well. To new moms (and experienced moms) who have babies waking them up through the night - I've really been feeling your pain lately. Benjamin has only slept through the night twice in his sweet little life, but usually he'll only wake up once or maybe twice... but lately it's been more around four or five times. Pretty much every hour after 2 or so.



Seriously.

Anyway ... so I've been keeping Mariah lately as I've already told you. Yesterday while Benjamin was napping, I decided to see if Mariah would sit for pictures. The lighting was off and I wasn't too fond of the shadows, but I did get a few pictures that I actually liked. We'll try again another day, but till then, I can share some of the ones I did like!


Reach for the stars!


Isn't she just adorable?


She really is one of the sweetest (busiest) babies!


I just love this girl! She is so much fun to play with and to keep.

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In other news, today is such a rainy day. We braved it and went out to the "big" city to get some shopping done and to get myself a haircut. We woke up to rain pouring down and it is still raining.

I got an e-mail from my dad this morning, he was trying to figure out how to put I guess a comment on my blog so he asked for me to just put this up for him:

Some things just happen ... we just happen to love our family! And it keeps getting bigger! Kristen is a wonderful example of how you can encourage others in what you say and do. We've been blessed to be a part of her life and the lives of those she brings near to us. We love you Kristen!!!!

Thanks, Dad! It means a lot! Love you!!

Just be a Mother.

I was up at 3AM this time. Sweet, dear baby boy did not want to go back to sleep. I didn't want him to just cry in his crib and wake up the hubby so I took him downstairs. Man. I was in tears. I was so tired. Eventually I just told myself to suck it up, do your job as a mother. It wasn't an easy thing to do, as really Benjamin hasn't done this in quite some time until this week. I don't know what it is. I guess I can just say I may have had too much caffeine and it was transferred to him? I have no clue. I don't think I have had any today so hopefully he will stay asleep. I can't wait till he starts sleeping through the night.

Anyway, so as soon as hubby woke up, I informed him I had been up at 3AM with his son. He took the baby downstairs with him so I could sleep in and I slept till...

Wait for it...

Noon.

It was so. So. SO. nice.

Not only that, but a few hours after that, I folded some clothes, and then I took a nap with the sweet baby boy. There is absolutely nothing like cuddling up to a baby and going to sleep. Benjamin now sleeps in his crib by himself, but the first couple months, he slept with us because it was the only way he would sleep without waking every hour. I miss it. I mean, it is nice having a bit of space in the bed... we only have a full-size bed. But I miss cuddling my sweet baby boy to sleep. Sometimes I bring him in the bed with us in the morning to get a bit more sleep. Or I'll side-nurse and fall asleep that way.

Anyway.

It's Friday night. I don't think I mentioned that we no longer have cable. DirecTV wanted to charge us $50 for someone to come out and look at our dish. We had gone hours without a signal. Anyway, Carl got frustrated with them and just canceled the whole shabang. Which is ohkay, because we didn't watch much of it anyway. Anything we want to watch, we can watch via the internet or Netflix.

So can someone tell me where the week went? I can't seem to find it. Tomorrow is Saturday, woah.

I think I'm going to go to bed early tonight in case Benjamin decides to stay up at 3AM again. Maybe I'll be able to withstand it a little better.

Goodnight all!

oh, PS - Benjamin will be five months old next Friday. What. In. The. World.

Yay me.

Why in the world am I awake at 4:45AM, and not feeding a baby? Well, I got up at 4 to feed the baby and found that we had had a massive diaper malfunction. I'm not going to go into too many details but let's just say poop was everywhere. Eeyore has to be washed now. So I got that cleaned up, I got him cleaned up, I got him fed, I got laundry in the wash, and guess who doesn't want to go back to sleep. One hint: it isn't the sleepy mommy.

And guess who gets to stay up with him?

Yay me.

I think this is the earliest this has ever happened. The good thing is that I took a super long nap yesterday evening so I at least have a little bit of emergency energy to feed off of. If only I can get him to go back to sleep. Right now he is laying on the floor with a blanket over his face.... and now he's crying.

Yay me.

Just a Day in a Life...

Benjamin…. Dear, dear Benjamin woke me up at 6AM this morning and wanted to play. This mommy wanted to sleep a few more hours. Usually I’m ohkay getting him up and all that but THIS morning… getting up and playing was definitely the last thing on my mind (the first thing being how can I teach myself to sleep walk across the hall to his crib so I could pop that paci back in his mouth).

Sweet, sweet Benjamin was relentless. So I got up. I dragged myself out of bed and forced my eyes open and went to get him (dragging my pillow along behind me. I would find SOME way to get a few winks in). So we went downstairs. I’m not a morning person, especially this morning, so Benjamin went to his swing.

Sweet Benjamin went to sleep in his swing.

And this little momma went to sleep on the couch. Till about 10 o’ clock! Woweee. It was nice. But. I was still tired. And to be honest, I still am.

I don’t think I mentioned that I had been trying all day yesterday to get in touch with the pediatrician because Ben kept rubbing at a rash on his face. I finally got through to them (phone tag is frustrating when you’re trying to figure out what to put on your child), and now we are putting cortizone cream on his dear little face twice a day. And his rash from all his drooling is going away. Sweeeeet.

Monday is his next appointment. Shots? I think so. And I bet he weights 18 pounds. Goooood gracious.

That is all I can think of to tell the bloggers out there. Or the blog readers. All you lurkers, I know you’re there. I have a visitor count! Stop by and say hello! (Please – I know there HAS to be life out there!)

- Kristen

Oh, I got a bit creative last night and I made this:

Ben seems to like it. Carl calls it the afrotato. :) Yeah, I had some felt I needed to use up.

I'm a mommy so...

I know what exhaustion feels like.

It feels like a constant headache that won't go away even with your oxicodone and motrin. It feels so draining. Yeah, I'm drained.

This is what motherhood feels like.

I slept more yesterday than I probably had all week. It felt... different. I'd say it felt good, but it didn't. It felt like I had slept 20 minutes instead of maybe 4 hours. Benjamin was SO fussy last night. He wouldn't sleep all day. He fought it so hard. And we could tell he was so tired. It broke my heart. And we all paid for it. He did sleep last night pretty well though. He slept from around 1:30 to about 6:30. He ate then and went to sleep again until 8 when we pulled him into bed with us. We usually end up doing that every morning just to get a bit more sleep in. He likes being close to us. We like being close to him. So it works out. We got up at 10:20 or so. Yeah, we got more sleep than usual.

And I feel the same. Except this time I have a dull headache.

Right now Benjamin is asleep in his swing. I'm watching him out of the corner of my eye. I don't care that I'm exhausted, when I look at him. It isn't his fault. He just can't communicate. I'm going to have to get used to the lack of sleep. Somehow, I'm ohkay with it. Later, when I'm in tears from sleep deprivation, I won't feel so ohkay with it. But deep down, yeah, it's fine. I'll do whatever it takes to take care of Ben.

He's waking up now. Time to feed in a little while.