Sleep, wonderful sleep

I have always heard and known that each child is a different person with different habits and attitudes. No where in our children is that more apparent than in their sleep habits.

Cora has always been our easy child. By a few months she was only waking up once a night. By around 6 months she was sleeping 11 hours straight. She never stood up in her crib, never threw major fits, and only fussed or fought when she was sick. The entirety of our sleep training with her consisted of a few days, like maybe 2, of letting her cry it out. Then she was fine. We were those parents that others hate to talk to about baby sleep habits. And we knew it. In fact, we used to joke that we shouldn't have more kids because the next would never sleep and be a terror at bedtime.

Foreshadowing, that's what that last sentence was.

Because Rhys. Oh, Rhys. Dear, sweet, happy baby Rhys. At a few months old he was waking up 3 to 4 times a night. By 6 months he was only waking up 2 or 3 times, and the longest stretch of sleep was about 4 hours. Getting him to sleep for both naps and bedtime involved bouncing his 20+ pound self until our knees hurt, then patting him on the back in the crib until he was silent. Then patting some more just to be sure he was asleep. This was after spending months getting away from nursing him to sleep.

Oh, yeah. He'll sleep in a stroller no problem.

Coincidences

I regularly listen to this podcast, This American Life. Generally I listen while I do my long runs on the weekend, but sometimes I listen while the kids are napping and I am cleaning or attempting to do something domestic. So, mostly while running.

A couple of weeks ago they ran an episode based on coincidences people have experienced. Now, I do believe that coincidences happen, but I have never been one to ascribe some sort of meaning to chance happenings. That being said, I’ll tell you about a really neat coincidence that happened to my family.

My Dad worked for most of his adult life for Union Pacific Railroad, driving trains from one location to the other. He would be gone for a few days at a time, and when my brother and I were children he would bring us back candy after each trip. When my brother, who is 2 years older than me, started high school, Dad took a day job so that he would be home for football and basketball games during our high school years. Trains have always been a big thing in our family – we have train Christmas ornaments, train piggy banks, and train nicknacks of all sorts.

In October of 2004, Dad passed away from cancer. After the graveside portion of the funeral we were walking through the cemetery looking at the graves of our other relations when all of a sudden we heard a loud and distinct train whistle. All of us looked up and smiled, and someone, I can’t remember who, remarked on the train being a sign of some sort.

Like I said, I don’t really believe that it meant anything special, but it was a sort of nice highlight to an other wise depressing day. Most importantly, it lets me look back on that day and smile a little bit.

ETA: My Mom informed my that two train whistles blew during the day. The first was just before the preacher was to pray, and the second as I’ve told above. I don’t remember the first at all!

Originally blogged at Stillintheworks.wordpress.com

8 months old

Dear Rhys,

It is incredibly hard to believe that you are 8 months old. You are a happy and smiling baby; people are always commenting on your wonderful smile, how happy you are and how your spirit is contagious.

Happy baby

Thanksgiving 2012 Recap

When you host a whole bunch of family, Thanksgiving moves past a single day of celebration and becomes more of a week long event. The celebration started before anyone even arrived, because Monday was my birthday! (And also my mother-in-law's birthday, so I'm sure there was celebrating there as well). I am now officially in my 30's, but still act and feel somewhere around 22.

Once people arrived we spent most of our time playing with cute babies, eating, and laughing. Rhys is about 6 weeks older than his newest cousin Colin, and those 6 weeks were pretty obvious in weight! Colin is just as long as Rhys, but quite a few pounds lighter. They had fun laying around and getting tickled.

Babies! Rhys on the left, Colin on the right.

Turkey Poll

We are running a Thanksgiving 5k with the Nichols this year, and are in need of your help choosing a name for the race. Check out Gena's blog to vote!

http://stillintheworks.wordpress.com/2012/09/16/name-this-race/