Some pictures!

So, the last couple nights haven't been as good as the first 2 with putting him downstairs. The first 2 nights he slept from 8 until 7:30 without waking up once! He's still sleeping through, but Saturday night he woke up around 5 (well, I guess it would be Sunday morning!) and sounded so sad so I went down and picked him up. He clung to me like he was never going to see me again! And he would just look up at me, kiss me, then put his head back down on me. It was very sweet! After about 5 minutes, I put him back to bed, he cried for a few minutes and then slept until close to 8.

Last night, would have been ok, except for Jeff got a fire call around 3:30. He got home around 4:30 and then had a shower and went downstairs to watch tv to tire him out. So I usually can't sleep when he's not in bed with me, so I went down to see if he wanted to come to bed yet. He did, but then we both just laid there, not sleeping! So around 5:30 we decided to go downstairs to watch tv. And then Zach was up around 6:30. So I have a feeling it will be an early night tonight.

I really hope he starts sleeping like he did Thursday night, cause once the weather warms up a bit I plan on starting the Couch to 5K again. I really miss running. I miss being all by myself with the sun shining down on me, with my mp3 player and just running. I know I will get there again, but it will be a hard start I'm sure.

I thought I would post some pictures since it's been a while. Enjoy!

Finding a metal bowl so interesting!
Using it as a drum!
And a hat!
His new face he's been making! He crinkles up his nose all the time now!

Daddy with his girls after tobogganing. So pooped out!
Juliana was wiped!
Daddy giving Zachary his bottle. He always crosses his feet!
Daddy and his boy!
Practicing to be a daddy someday! (He enjoyed walking with the stroller but it didn't have any weight in it so I added the baby so it wouldn't tip on him all the time!)

Update!

Well, the sleep is going ok. I ended up putting the playpen in the craft room downstairs and when he wakes up in the night, instead of going to the bottle like I used to, I just put him down there. Most nights, he goes down fine with no crying. The first night he slept from 8-3:30 and then went downstairs and slept until 6:40. The second night, from 8-4:20, then again until 8. So I thought that we maybe were going to get a break and he'd start sleeping through the night. Well, nope! He's not up like he used to be, but he's been waking up around 12-1 and won't go back to sleep in his crib. He screams! So I bring him downstairs and he goes right to sleep. Great, yes! But I would like to sleep with my husband in our bed, instead of in the recliner or on the couch. The only thing I can think is, maybe the kids room isn't as dark as he likes. There is a night light and lately Kayla has been having bad dreams so we leave the closet light on with the doors shut. Whereas the craft room only has a little night light in the hall and the door is almost shut. Tonight I might try to leave him down there with the monitor but that makes me nervous since we are upstairs. I don't really like the idea of leaving him down there, but we'll see how it goes.

I've been researching cakes and things to make for Zachary's and the girls birthdays and I came across a recipe for Marshmallow Fondant. I've always wanted to try fondant but never did cause I thought it would be hard. So I made some of the MM Fondant and baked a cake and tried it! It was awesome! So easy to make, tint and it is pretty yummy too! It took me about 1 1/2 hours to do this cake, which is nothing compared to the buttercream cakes I usually make that take 5-6 hours. What do you think? (I made it white, red and black cause I wanted to try tinting red and black since I need those for Zach's firetruck cake)

The Marshmallow Fondant just made
The cake iced with buttercream (to help the fondant stick)
The fondant rolled out
Draped over the cake
Now trimmed off (with a pizza cutter! So handy!)
Finished product!

:o(

Well, I'm back from the doctor's with Zach. I'm bummed :o( He said he is completely healthy and doesn't have a thing wrong with him but -- he said he is overweight and that I shouldn't be feeding him during the night. He's not unhealthily overweight but he said that babies grow fat cells when they are young and the more food you give them, the more they grow which could cause problems with them when they are older, with weight. I'm so scared that I've put my son on the road to obesity. I know that he is only 10 months old and I'm sure it won't end up that way, but what if he does end up really overweight???? I'm so upset. I know that it's not like I've been force feeding him to make him get big, but the doctor said that I should not be giving him food during the night. So what I need to do is put him somewhere that he won't wake the kids up, and harden my heart and let him cry. It's a behavioral thing that I need to train him out of. The problem is is that when he wakes up, I don't want him to wake anyone up so I automatically go to him and either pick him up to comfort him or feed him. So he has learned "When I cry, mommy comes to me with food!" So he said that it may be a rough thing to go through but eventually, it will work and he will sleep through the night. I know with Juliana when she was around this age, I would take Kayla in our room with us, turn the fan on, shut the door and let her cry, checking on her every few minutes to make sure she was ok. And it worked, she eventually learned to soothe herself to sleep and slept through the night, other than when she was sick or something like that. So I need to do that. What I'm going to do is once I move him to his crib (we start him off in the playpen in our room so that he can go to sleep since Juliana stays awake for a while after they go to bed), I'm going to move the playpen downstairs in the craft room. Once he wakes up in the night, instead of giving him a bottle, I'll take him down, put him in there and I'll go down with him, and sleep in the recliner in the living room so I'll still be close, but he won't see us and won't wake anyone up. The doctor said that he should not be in our room with us, and that may be a big reason why he wakes up and gets upset. So, I'm a little nervous to try it since he'll be going from having 1-2 bottles in the night to nothing. I know that babies are made to not eat in the night - Juliana gave it up around 8 months or so - so I know that he's not going to be starving. I just know how I feel when I start trying to lose weight and cut out calories. I'm starving for the first few days! So until his body gets used to it and starts taking more calories during the day, it will be hard. Wish me luck! It's going to be a hard few days I'm sure :o( I'll keep you all posted.

Fun in the pool!!

Wow, it's been hot here the past few days!! We blew up the girls little pool yesterday and let them sit in the cool water for a bit. It was pretty cute, Juliana kept splashing the water and then it would go in her face and she would need to catch her breath, and then when she did, she would giggle! I have a feeling I'll be pulling that pool out a lot this summer. Although I should probably buy a bigger one so they have a little more room! I thought I would post some pics (sorry there are so many but I just couldn't pick!)

Juliana showing off her bathing suit

Kayla in her "mermaid" bathing suit

The girls in the pool

Juliana was having a hoot in there!

Now Kayla is laughing like crazy!

Juliana kept hugging the blow up faces
on the side of the pool!!

Here's Juliana sitting in her chair (Thanks Aunt Christie!)

Kayla lounging in the pool! Such a hard life! LOL!!

This is Juliana just after getting water splashed in her face
(her own doing!)

She fell down and didn't want to get back up!
Must have been the way the grass felt kinda funny,
she didn't want to put her hands down!!

The girls playing with the ball.

These are some other pictures that I thought I would post too, since it's been a while since I've posted.

Kayla helped me make pizza on Friday night
and she was so proud of it!!!

This is a cute picture of them just hanging out on the couch!

Juliana fell asleep in this position the other day and I
couldn't resist taking a picture of it!!