Tuesday, June 14, 2011

Tell Me How ... To Transition to One Nap

I'm long overdue for another "tell me how" post. This time, I need you to tell me how to transition Spencer from two daily naps to one. He's such a good napper... well, was a good napper. He'd go down at 10, sleep for 1.5 hours, wake up so happy and pleasant. Then he'd go down around 2, sleep for another 1.5 hours, and wake up happy and pleasant. I loved the pattern of our days. This past week has been a whole 'nother story. He's driving me crazy.

I got sick and then he got sick, too, so in fairness, the week was crappy to begin with. When he gets sick, he doesn't sleep. Won't nap, and wakes up frequently at night. So it was a long week. He seems to be getting over his cold, but he still won't nap. He won't go down for a morning nap, but by 12 or so, he's super tired and ornery (and so am I!) I put him down and he sleeps for 1.5 hours but wakes up still tired and ornery. He's used to getting 3 hours of sleep during the day, and now will only sleep 1.5. By 5 in the afternoon, I'm frustrated and ready to sell him, cause he's tired and cranky and clingy and all other fun things. I'm sure this rhetoric sounds familiar to many of you...

So... what do I do? All the stupid "help" books say when you make the switch to one nap, they'll sleep longer to make up for only taking one, instead of two. HA! I'd love him to continue to take 2 naps, since we had such a nice pattern to our days. Now it's chaos. Maybe he'll go back to taking 2 when he's feeling all the way better, but probably not. He's 14 months, so close to the average that kids transition to one nap (it's 15 months, according to some sleep expert dude).

What time(s) do your kids nap? One or two? How long do they sleep? How did you know it was time to make the switch to just one nap? I realize that all kids are different... blah, blah, blah... but please help anyway. Your own personal experiences are welcome. Or if you don't have advice, feel free to bid. Like I said, he's driving me crazy... :) Good thing he's so adorable and I love him like mad... otherwise I really might sell him.

Monday, May 9, 2011

Easter, Gardens and Other Stuff

Well, no shocker -- I'm behind again. Instead of doing a few posts to catch up, this will be a long one. Kudos if you make it to the end :)

Mom, Spencer and I visited Red Butte Gardens in mid-April to see the thousands of dandelions. It was very pretty. And nice to get that first 'taste' for spring.

Red Butte Gardens

Red Butte Gardens

Red Butte Gardens

Red Butte Gardens - Spencer's favorite part was the river. Of course.

Dying Easter eggs

Licking the (chocolate frosting) beaters

Hunting eggs

Easter Sunday - thanks to my dad for taking such great photos

Easter Sunday

Cory & his mini-me

Easter Sunday

So handsome

Hunting eggs

Hunting eggs


We put him to work after Easter dinner, cleaning up (haha :)


Thanksgiving Point, Tulip Festival - gorgeous weather and gorgeous flowers














YEA for spring!

Saturday, April 16, 2011

Birthday Party

Since Spencer's 1st birthday fell on a Tuesday, we had a party for him with family on Saturday (April 9th). Here's a few pictures.

Loves the homemade ice cream.

With his cake -- they're blocks (in case you couldn't tell)

He sort of got the hang of opening presents...

We got some great stuff that he's been playing with all week long. Thanks to everyone who came and made his 1st birthday party a really fun memory!

Time for a Haircut... ?

When my brother(s) & father can do this to my son's hair... does that mean it's time for a haircut?



Yeah since I can now put it in a ponytail... I think it might be time.


We tried to get a family shot at Spencer's birthday party... here's the best we got.

Wednesday, April 6, 2011

1 Year Old!

I'm sure I'll begin every birthday post with the line "I can't believe my baby is __!" In this case, I can't believe a whole year has passed! And what a year it's been ... moving from New York, finding a place to live, getting settled in, adjusting to being parents, starting a chiropractic business and trying to build up a cliental. Wow, sometimes I'm amazed that we survived :) We never would have made it through the year without the support of our families.

We celebrated Spencer's 1st birthday yesterday. People ask me all the time if I can imagine life without him. Well, I do remember what life was like before him (a lot easier to do stuff!) but he's a perfect fit into our little family. He's bright, inquisitive, and a whole lot of fun to have around. We love him to pieces and know that he came to our family exactly when he was supposed to.


Born 4/5/10 @ 12:10 pm (Eastern Standard Time)

4/5/11 @ 10:10 am (Mountain Standard Time)

He loved the balloons we got him.


Since Spencer has no idea what a birthday is, it was a pretty low-key day. We had family dinner, dessert and presents. Here he is with his peanut butter fingers.


Eating his peanut butter finger (loves them -- takes after his mom :)

With presents.



He's soooo close to walking on his own... we hope this will give him the encouragement he needs.


We've been very blessed to have such a happy, healthy baby. Happy birthday sweetheart. We love you so much. We're so grateful you chose to join our family!