The Good, the Bad and the UUUUGLY!!

The good:

Today is our Anniversary! I am so blessed to be married to such an amazing man, and even more blessed that we get to be married in the same country! :)

I think we can officially say that Makafui is a sleeper (I hope I don't jinx it). For a little more than a week now, he sleeps from night 'til morning without needing me to help him get back to sleep!!! Yay! He averages about 10 hour stretches...that is something I never thought I would say. Go, baby, go!!!

The bad:

Makafui has been sick with some sort of nasty allergies or a cold combined with teething. Last week was rouuuuuuugh!

I washed our bedspread on Monday (which I have done before with no problems) and the washing machine ate and burned it!! Boo!

The ugly:

Makafui has seemed "better" (no fever, congestion and runny nose are nearly gone) for a few days, but has been, how shall we say? A monster. He is cranky to the max! On Sunday I wouldn't put him in the church nursery, just in case he was till sick so we hung out in the cry room. A total meltdown ensued and basically the whole congregation heard it while it took me a little while to pick up our toys and get out of there. Then, we had a special lunch after church that I had leave because he was just not going to handle it. Things have NOT gotten better over the last 3 days. Praying his molars come through or something that will get us over this hump.

Despite the bad and the ugly, I'm still lovin' being this little boy's full time Mama and am so blessed by him. I am growing a lot through these hard days! We do get little bursts of sweetness during the nasty-I'm loving that! :)

Typically Texas

It's winter in Central Texas! That means this 80 degree weather is perfectly normal, and the "ice storm" we'll probably get in February will be too! :) We know spring isn't here yet, but we're loving this weather while we can! This was the first time M really played at the park. I can't believe how big he's getting...

 

Proof that I am a serious nerd.

Today, I went to OfficeMax. The new guy who was doing my copies seemed strangely familiar. Then, I saw his name tag: Chism. I only know one person with that name and that spelling. I felt a little timid at first, but finally called him out. It was Chism from the 2012 season of Biggest Loser!! I lived on the couch in the weeks following Makafui's wonderful addition to our family and Biggest Loser was a show I watched regularly. I was so proud of him and told him to keep up the good work. Then, I got in the car and texted my husband that I saw Chism from BL, as if it were a big deal! :)

 

Three years ago, on my wedding day, Eddie Vedder came up to me in the Four Seasons (I was dressed and ready to walk down the aisle) and told me how beautiful I was, wished me the best, blah, blah, blaaahhhhed and gave me a rose. Meh. I didn't tell anyone for a long time.

Nerd. Serious nerd.

Finally some pics

I've been having issues with blogger, and finally got some pictures to upload. We are enjoying this fabulous weather and I haven't been great about taking pictures. Boo. :(

 

11 months!

 

 

The car (and getting his picture taken) are a huge hit around here!

 

Our new furniture is here!

 

Pier 1 is great! I bought our leather couch from them nearly 4 years ago and a few months ago it started peeling. After contacting customer service and sending pics, they determined it was not normal wear and tear and said I could return it...for a full refund! The hardest part was getting my credit card company to send me the statement from 2009 to prove what I paid, that took 3 tries and more than a month. We ended up at Star and got these for pretty much an even exchange (we added a little for delivery, which was so worth it!). Pier 1 was amazing and I will certainly buy furniture from them again!

 

 

 Makafui loves his instruments from Gigi  and Pops!

M sure does love his hair products...

 

 

I am working on Makafui's Birthday invitations and trying not to go too crazy or be too sad about him growing up. We are really enjoying this age and stage.

 

Now that I have figured out the picture thing I plan on getting back to regular posting...

Lame-o

I've been a super lame blogger...way to start 2013. So here's what's up...

-We're thinking and praying a lot lately about who we are as a family and what our life should look like. I am so glad and blessed that we are on the same page as a couple, headed in the same direction. We are seeking the Lord for many things...big and small alike.

-In 2 weeks, Makafui has slept night through morning 3 times! Most other nights, he wakes once.

-My sister's baby shower was here on Sunday and it went fabulously, if I do say so myself. :)

-We returned our 3 1/2 year old couch to Pier 1...they have the best customer service ever.

-I strapped M on my back and attempted to move said couch to a truck with G. We got it out of our apartment and onto the landing and I said I couldn't do it. G responded that I just needed to help him put the couch on his head and he would take. He was serious. I called my brother.

-We're sitting on the floor currently.

-In two weeks, I put 1,000 miles on my new car. I guess I had some pretty serious cabin fever. We've backed off on the driving...mostly.

-We are starting to entertain more and I'm actually enjoying it.

-I want to give more.

-Makafui has been banging his head on EVERYTHING lately. I hope he is growing, rather than just crazy clumsy.

-G refuses to call my car Premium Schatzelein...he has named her Shonda Honda.

-I made some amaaaahhhzing pumpkin waffles the other day....what resolution??

-I ran into Kristen at IKEA last week. She has the cutest style, and it's a real style. I used to have a style, but not anymore. I NEED to find my cute mom style. I wear an interesting mix of Michael Kors and Old Navy...it's not quite doin it for me.

-I have re-discovered eBay. Uh-oh.

-My wedding/engagement rings are too big and a band is missing a diamond. I'm not wearing them so I don't lose them and it's driving me nuts. I got a quote and it's gonna be more than $400 to fix them. Blah!! I may go buy a cheap something to wear while we wait to get them fixed...

-Makafui knows he's funny and cute, which is funny and cute.

-My parents are the new you married/family group leaders at our church and I'm so excited about it!!

-There's something about cold weather that makes me eat junk...like lots of carbs. I'm workin on that.

11 Months!!

(Blogger isn't letting me load pics, I'm working on it but still want to mark this day.)

My oh my, how time flies!!

I can hardly believe Makafui is 11 months today! He will be a full year in just a few more weeks! Mostly, I'm loving watching him grow and change and am excited for the year ahead and all the fun and exciting things we can do. I miss the early days a little bit and get sad sometimes about how fast he's growing up. When that happens, I plan his Birthday party. :)

At 11 months...

Makafui continues to be an adorable tornado! Watch out! He is busy, busy and into everything!

He slept completely through the night once so far and technically-meaning 5 hours or more-sleeps through the night consistently.

He is night weaned!!!

This kid pulls up on everything and cruises from furniture to furniture. I think he'll be walking by his Birthday.

He is getting very talkative! He regularly says: Mama, Daddy, hi, bye-bye, nigh-night, dog (dah!), nursin' (nuh-nuh...a lot like nigh-night:), an interesting rendition of thank you and moo, neigh, woof and bock-bock! He also mimicks much of what we say, but doesn't really know the word. We're still workin on saying Gigi! :)

He loves animals and animal sounds! We could do animal sounds all day long!

Boy has rhythm. When he hears music or catches a glimpse of dancing on TV, he starts to dance. I love it!

He claps for himself...a lot. He knows he's a big deal.

He is still very social and his cuteness may be going to his head. His wave is less wave now and more of a raised gesture to his adoring crowd.

Makafui's appetite has exploded! He will just eat and eat! I need to change how I shop because I keep running out of food for him. :) Pizza, green beans, string cheese and grapes are favorites-he could eat ridiculous amounts of those foods all day long.

He tries to put his own socks on. He hasn't mastered this skill by any means (meaning, he picks up a sock and just rubs it on his foot), but it's a cute attempt nonetheless.

When I press the bluetooth call button in the car and the lady says, "After the beep, please say the name you would like to call." Makafui starts yelling, "Da da da da da!!" I love it! He knows when I'm talking to Daddy and tries to ad to the convo.

This boy is so much fun and such a joy! We are one blessed little family. :)

Hard Work and Miracles

As you most certainly know by now, Makafui is a VERY wakeful baby!

We devoted November to dealing with nighttime issues and we were making some real progress. Then, Makafui got sick and stopped eating solids for more than a week. I gladly threw our progress out the window and nursed him all throughout the night. I'm glad I did that-it was good for his health but it wasn't exactly great for out night issues.

He got better. Too better. Our nighttime interactions turned into him holding me hostage by my anatomy and it was getting very, very frustrating and exhausting for me.

So I decided it really, truly had to stop. My plan? Cold turkey night weaning.

We started on New Years Eve since G had the next day off. It was both harder and easier than I expected. M did NOT fall back to sleep easily. G and I tag-teamed holding/rocking/shushing/dancing/singing/promising the moon/laying down with him and leaving him alone for periods of time. He cried less when we left him alone, but didn't lay down and sleep. It took a little more than 2 hours each time for him to get back to sleep. He didn't seem to want nursed that bad, he also didn't really know what to do to get back to sleep. Sorry baby, my bad.

The next night was a LOT better. His first wake up took only 20 minutes-no crying at all and the second one took an hour.

Last night, I was really nervous that he would wise up and really fight the weaning thing. Instead, he slept from 9pm to 6:45am....STRAIGHT THROUGH!! I was up constantly looking at the video monitor, but little dude was fast asleep. It only took 10 months, 3 weeks and 6 days but he FINALLY slept through the night.

I am hoping and praying that this is going to be his new normal, but also preparing for a little more hard work. Go baby, GO!!!!

Good night = very happy mornings!