Sunday, November 15, 2009

Life with a Newborn Baby

I remember those special days with our newborn baby.... those days where the nights and days ***blurred*** together. Those wonderful days of functioning in zombie mode...when you awoke to your screaming baby and somehow knew you must have been sleeping for hours, yet you would come to a rude realization that it had only been 15 minutes.......


Ahhhh... the blissful days of new parenthood. Indeed there are some parents out there who are blessed enough to have children, nay babies, who sleep peacefully and willingly with the slightest rocking, swaying from their moms.

OUR sweet baby was not one of these babies. He was stubborn from Day: 1.

He somehow knew at the ripe age of 3 days old that whenever he closed those heavy eyelids was going to be the second we started doing fun and exciting new things.



He didn't want to miss a moment in this new exciting world.




He would fight........... and fight.......and FIGHT to keep those eyelids open................... and eventually the weight would become unbearable. Begrudgingly he would give into his sleepy lids.... for a moment or two (usually the moment while you were trying to put his tiny body back in the crib) before they would spring open again.
We spent so many hours trying to convince our little guy that we wouldn't do anything fun without him, but being the smart baby he was.... he knew.

HE KNEW that we were full of lies.


Flash forward 2 years later and our sweet little boy, the one who's afraid to miss out on anything, seems as though he hasn't changed one bit.

Exhibit A: Quincy falling asleep in the shopping cart at Target.

Exhibit B: Quincy trying to hold his body upright, as to convince his sleepy body that its' not really sleepy.

Exhibit C: Quincy passed out after a good 2 hours worth of screaming in protest during his usual nap time.

Our latest fun and exciting news is that for whatever apparent reason, Quincy has decided that he needs to wake up at 3:00, 4:00, 5:00 or 6:00AM..... sometimes all of them. Since he has successfully learned to open his door he walks into our room to announce to his sleep deprived parents in an eager whisper: "I awake!"

You would think that he would notice that the whole house is quiet, that his parents are sound asleep in their bed.... that the whole house is dark. You would think that maybe we would realize we aren't doing anything fun without him, but NNNNnnnnnnOOOOOooooo!

We haven't quite figured out how to make Quincy stay asleep in the morning. We don't even know why he's waking up at those hours.



What we DO know is that we are lacking desperately in the sleep department!



I feel as though I have a newborn baby again, only this time around my 'baby' comes into my bedroom or bed just to annoy me. I don't know what we're going to do when we actually have baby Pipa.......I'm already exhausted.

Tyler did give him a blessing a few nights ago that he would be comforted and sleep.....it was the first night in weeks that he slept until 7:30AM. Then the next night came.... and he woke up early again.

What to do, what to do.... Suggestions anyone????

On a more positive note Quincy went to the temple grounds with us and loved it. He kept saying "The temple HUGE!" And pointing out many of the details outside. He was of course fascinated by the water features and even tried to convince us to let him swim in the reflecting pool.....

I thought this tree was beautiful and reminded me of the "burning bush".

It was really special to visit the Portland Temple grounds with all of my boys. The last time Tyler and I were there we were being sealed together as husband and wife.

Who would have thought then that 3 years into the future we would return as a family of 3 and a half!?! I love the symbol that the temple's stand for.....** Families are Forever**.

I'm so thankful for my boys.... even if they drive me crazy sometimes and I often feel sleep deprived because of one of them.

Another positive note is that Quincy is learning to say his prayers. Although he's still to young to say things on his own, he really enjoys repeating after us to pray. It's so sweet to hear him say nice things to Heavenly Father. Each night we have decided to have family prayer together in his room. I think this has made a huge difference in the mood that he's in right before bedtime.

And lastly, something sweet that Quincy does each night is kiss Pipa, or my belly, and then he says "Goodnight Pipa! I lubb you!" It makes me smile each time he does it...and ALMOST forget about all the sleep he's depriving us of... almost.

6 comments:

Katie Stacey said...

Oh man, sounds like he's getting you ready for the new baby. Although I do have to say that your description of new motherhood rings pretty true to me right now! Especially the part about feeling like a zombie. Haha! I hope Quincy starts sleeping better for your soon.

The temple obsession must be any age thing. Savannah talks constantly about the temple and we have to drive by it all the time so she can see it. She calls it "Jesus' house." She does get confused though and thinks most large buildings are temples. Its cute and good that they like the temple so much.

Kati Howard said...

Yeah Quincy calls some churches 'temples'..... close enough right? :)

Wii are the Nelsons said...

I wish I had suggestions, but James has never slept through the night...8-9 hours only a handful of times.
You look great! I love Quincy's vest and your Christmas tree

Cherie said...

Maybe he needs to go back into a crib if he's in a toddler bed. Good luck! We haven't figured out what we'll do once Lily starts climbing out of her crib.

Kati Howard said...

Ha ha... the reason we had to switch to a twin bed was because he learned how to climb out of his crib.... I think we'll maybe invest in a childproof door handle we can put on the inside of his bedroom door. :)

Unknown said...

hey I live in utah and right away when I saw the picture of your family I could tell you are mormons:) And your right families are forever :)