Oh Child of mine

Can someone please post (besides Heather!!) their children's sleeping habits/patterns. We have always struggled with Nathan's sleep and it has gotten so much better as he's gotten older...HOWEVER...once he goes to sleep, he wakes up on the half hour mark until we go bounce him back to sleep. EVERY NIGHT! Tonight, he went to bed at 730. Eight o'clock comes around and he wakes up. Cass gets him back to sleep...10 o'clock, my child is awake again. This has been a nightly thing. What do we do? This last time, I went in, cuddled him, laid him down in his crib and he cried it out for about 20 minutes. I think it's safe to say he's sleeping now. Does anyone know why he does this? What wakes him up at the half hour mark? He doesn't have a night time bottle and hasn't for several months...so it's not that. After he wakes once or twice he can sleep for up to ten hours straight. I just don't know what to do about the first few hours he's in bed. It's frustrating. I've been doing the easy thing by bouncing him back to sleep but I don't think he is learning how to put himself back to sleep....and he's crying now AGAIN. Hmmmm....thanks for letting me vent.

PICTURE TIME!

My tired boy.
Who are we? BEAVERS! What are we? WINNERS!! (anyone remeber that from PHS?)
How lucky am I to spend everyday with these two???
Swimming for fun.
Such a big boy...did I mention he turns 1 in a month??

The Beavers

Yep...that's right...the Beavers are coming for a visit. You thought there couldn't be more than one Beaver family but there IS!! Cass's brother Shane and his new wife Cheurisya are coming for the day tomorrow and Cass and I are really excited. We love when we get visitors. We are going to take them out to Shoreacres Park...we have never been but it's supposed to be amazing. We will take pictures to post. Then I'm going to make homemade mac & Cheese to celebrate Shane's upcoming Birthday...and you can't have a Birthday without Birthday cake. So I'm going to go get that started right now!!

Uncle Tom Tom Continued...

Tommy and Nathan had so much fun together. Nathan loves his Uncle Tom Tom.

Tommy and Nathan goofing around and throwing water bottles.
Mommies and their babies! Me and Nathan, Heather and Jackson, Jessica and Meghan.
Nathan...looks a little worried but he's fine.
Nathan and his goofy momma up close and personal with the horse.

Uncle TOM TOM

See the handsome man on the right?? That's Uncle TOM TOM and he's coming for a visit tomorrow. We are SOOOOO excited!! I've been missing my family so his visit is perfect timing. We are going to go down to the Coos County Fair:) I hope it's a lot of fun. I'll take some pics and show you the aftermath of Tommy's visit!!!

The sad reality is...

...I have to go back to work at least part time. I've been working but mostly just weekends and not even every weekend. It is time for me to put the financial needs of my family before my own emotional needs of being with Nathan every second of every day. I've been applying for a couple jobs in a banks, one at Vet Hospital as a receptionist, and just keeping my eyes open. I really only want to work four MAYBE five hours a day and preferably Monday-Fri. You know what this means. The hunt for the PERFECT care for Nathan has begun as has the knot in my stomach. The thing is, Nathan loves to play. So if I can find the perfect place for him that has all kinds of toys and open space to run and play, he will love it. And he can only benefit from socializing with other toddlers, right? He will eventually have to so why not now? Besides, he is almost 1 year old. This has been a hard, emotional decision to make, but we don't have many choices at this point. Cass only has eight more months of school left and then we will go from there. For now, this is what I have to do. It's not the end of the world. Lots of kids go to day care and lots of moms work more than part time. Everyone survives and we will too. That's what I have to keep telling myself.

A look ahead...

So I was just looking at the next few months of Summertime. It is going to fly by! I can't believe that it's almost the middle of July already. I'm trying to find time to go back to Albany this month to visit with friends, but between working on the weekend and Dr. appts and other happenings during the week, there really isn't much time.
Before I know it, August will be here. That will be a busy month...Nathan and I are flying to Utah with Tiff and the girls for our annual visit. A couple weeks after we get home is Nathan's 1st Birthday. We are going to try and have a little party with all his little friends up in the Valley and then hopefully my dad and Kathy are going to come down here and visit.
Next thing we know September will be here. We have a fun weekend planned to go to the Running Y Resort in Klamath Falls with Tiffani and her family. Cass and I got married at the Running Y and we happen to be going a few days before our second wedding anniversary. It will be a good time.
After that we get rolling into Fall (my favorite season) and into all the holiday festivities. I'm hoping to find a fun pumpkin patch in the area to take Nathan to. Then Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Years...and then the whole reason I'm thinking about this.....Cass's Graduation!!! We are both ready to move on to the next chapter of our lives. Cass loves what he is doing and it will be that much better when he is getting paid to do it!!! By next June we hope Cass will have a job back in the valley or over in Central Oregon and hopefully I'll be starting an MAT program. Let's just hope it works out the way we have planned.
Congratulations to Stephanie for giving birth to baby Peyton Mallory Cleary. Hopefully I will get to meet her this fall. Way to go Steph!
PS... Nathan dumped the clump of poop out of his dirty diaper today after I changed him...I got caught up with something on TV and before I could toss the diaper, he was playing with it...I know I know, I should be more attentive but I swear to you, WHERE THERE IS POO THERE IS MY CHILD!!

Our 4th of July

So being here in Coos Bay/North Bend, with no friends or family...we had a really low key day/night. Cass decided to work today since he is required to work one holiday during his clinicals. Nathan and I headed out to the beach after nap time. Take a look at how cute he is and what a nice day it was at the beach. Nathan loves the sand. He will walk for almost an hour and just pick up stuff. He will usually find a rock or stick and that will stay in one had for the rest of our beach stay. The other had is free to pick up and throw whatever else he sees in the sand. It really is pretty fun to watch him.


This is so you can see our pretty day!
I found a starfish. I have never found one before...do people find them often or was I just lucky? I didn't think it was appropriate to bring it home so I left it at the there (after I took a picture to prove it). Really, what would I do with it once we got it home? Pretty cool though, huh?!
Nathan, however, found a dried piece of dog poop! Yep, I looked away for two seconds and next thing I know, he is gripping a piece of poo. Most things Nathan picks up end up in his mouth. I caught this before it got to that poing. Here is proof of the poo. Do you see it? It's the big clump of dark brown sand in the middle of the picture....gross huh...
Nathan ended up getting really wet and sandy at the beach so when I got him home I stripped him out of all his clothes. He was running around in the buff while I grabbed a diaper, change of clothes and his Aquaphor ointment that I have to put on his right buttcheek because he has exzema. I find him standing in the middle of the kitchen, holding my flipflops and PEEING!! I stepped toward him and he stepped toward me. He stepped right in his puddle of pee, slipped and landed flat on his back in his mess. I felt so bad. He wasn't hurt, just dripping in urine. So I had to throw him in the bath. Needless to say, we had an eventful day.
Cass and I rented "Definitely, Maybe" and just finished watching it. I really liked it. I would recommend it for a fun flick. I'm thinking about spending the rest of this AWESOME Fourth of July reading my book that I checked out from the library.
Hope you all had a great holiday today!

BABIES!!

Congratulations to all those out there who have just had babies, are pregnant, or adopting. Good luck to all of you! Having children will change your life:)
Speaking of having children...mine is crazy!! He is into everything. His new favorite toy is a toilet bowl cleaning brush. Luckily the one he plays with is brand new and has never been used. He carries it everywhere and it even took a bath with him tonight. And can you believe he turns ONE in less than two months?? I can't! I have been thinking about planning his Birthday party and really need actually set the day and make it happen. I think we will celebrate up in Albany since that is where most of his family and friends are. Since we do have A friend down here, we might have to have a small cake and ice cream celebration here too...nothing big.
Cass has 3 months down and 9 left to go before he graduates. He is doing awesome! Time is going really quick so he'll be done before we know it. As for me...I think I'm going to get my Masters...that's right, get my teaching liscence. I'm pretty excited. I'm hoping to get it done part time and mostly online.
I got a library card today. I hope I get to use it. I took Nathan with me today and it was not easy looking for a book with him running around. I don't even know how many books he pulled off the shelf and I just stuck them back, in all the wrong places. The library is a nice place though and the ladies were very nice and helpful.
Tonight I took a Turbo Kick class at the gym. It was the second time this week. I'm serious about losing this last twelve pounds and I ate really well today too. Let's hope I can keep it up. I am motivated to lose most of the weight before the end of the month. Wish me luck. If anyone has any SIMPLE & INEXPENSIVE recipe ideas...please pass them along...I would love that.