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!!