Snuggle up, Jude

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!!!

2013 is going to be a great year.  I have a lot of hope for those who are not well in my family... I strongly believe they will get better.  I also have a lot to look forward to.  Our second child will arrive, making Jude the World's Best Big Brother (he already has a shirt from Auntie Snic to prove it).  Who knows what State Farm holds for me but I have a feeling things are going to change at work.  We plan to have the backsplash tile put in in our kitchen, do some additional landscaping and then either finish the bonus room or add on a deck/patio.  We are also kicking off the year by traveling to Austin this month.  Chad is going to Austin and Houston for work.  Jude and I are going to come visit him in Austin for a half week.  We can't wait! 

As I put Jude down for bed tonight, I made a mental note to blog about the stages we went through to get him to sleep.  Not until recently (early December), was bedtime "easy".  Jude did not sleep through the night until he was well over a year.  I don't remember exactly when (hopefully I blogged about it) but he would wake up more than once every night.  My body was used to it so I was still functioning pretty well.  After we returned from Virginia last year, I decided to stop nursing.  Jude was 14 months.  No more nursing in the middle of the night but I did rock him back to sleep when he woke up.  I also had to rock him to sleep just to get him to fall asleep initially.  At some point (my guess is June or July), I transitioned him to laying in his crib.  I patted him on the back and/or held his hand until he fell asleep.  This was hurting my back, so I resorted to putting a pillow and blanket on the floor and holding his hand through the flat wooden crib spindles.  Once he was asleep, I would slip my hand out and sneak out of the room.  That is, if I didn't fall asleep first.  The thing was, I liked rocking Jude to sleep (the chair was just uncomfortable).  I liked holding his hand while he fell asleep.  After all, je isn't going to want Mommy to put him to bed forever.  This is just one of those things that I cherish... it really is great bonding time.  My concern was, when the new baby arrives, timing may not allow me to hold his hand while he fell asleep and I did not want him to associate that with his brother or sister.  So again, after we returned from Virginia (for Thanksgiving this year), I decided that I would lay him down and leave.  I told him I had to pay bills, or take out the trash, or go do something but I would come back and check on him.  He wasn't happy at first.  For the first few nights he would stand at the corner of his bed and cry out for Mommy or Daddy.  I would go back in every couple of minutes.  Chad would go up and give him hugs and kisses goodnight as well.  This lasted about three days and he decided not to fight it anymore.  After that, he would just wait patiently for me to come back in.  When I went back in he would say "Mommy checking on me?"  So sweet.  Now, I lay him down and I go back in about 15 minutes later, sometimes he is asleep and sometimes he isn't but he is always close.  I get a lot more done in the evenings now too!  I do the same thing for nap time.  I just lay him down.  At nap time, he usually sings for about an hour at the top of his lungs or screams his ABC's but eventually he falls asleep.  Since we don't hold hands to fall asleep anymore, we have snuggle time.  He loves to snuggle.  What's better than hearing your two year old say "Mommy, let's snuggle".

A couple pictures that I snapped while in Virginia this year!  (He loved the Davis kid's GeoTrax set so much that he got one for Christmas)

 Wishing everyone the best for 2013!