mama's day out

I would have blogged yesterday but somebunky would not leave my hip/lap all day. I think we are cutting a top tooth and it has put us {and I mean us} in foul mood .

Reese went to school for a little while today. I need to clean and get organized because we are headed to the BeAcH on Thursday. Okay, really we are just going to my parent's house, but it's like going to the beach. And it's free.

Sunday, we spent some time outside in the turtle pool. I actually think we are going to take it with us to the beach in case little man doesn't like sand. I didn't time my "sunning" well, so we didn't stay outside long. Lofton and I also got eaten alive by the bugs. I'm surprised they didn't eat Bunky as well, but he only has one little bite on his toe. We are literally covered.

As you can see, my baby is a stud in his swimsuit and matching hat.

My goal for this week has been to make progress in napping {him not me}. I'm doing a so-so job. Lofton and I put him down for all his naps this weekend and he pretty much screamed every time. I can say that the duration of time he screams is lessening. Is that progress? Poor little guy. Twice I have gone in to check on him {after the screaming subsides} and found him asleep, sitting up but hunched over with his head between his feet. I just gently lay him down. Pitiful.

And in big news.... he crawled a little last night. Lofton was playing with him on the floor and Reese was trying to escape. He crawled about twice {does that make sense? imagine twice being hand knee, hand knee, hand knee, hand knee} before he feel back down to do the army crawl. We tried and TRIED to get him to do it again, but when Lofton picked him up to reposition him he whacked Reese's face. It was all down hill from there! I have hope though that he'll crawl by the weekend. Lofton agreed. He said if Reese is anything like me he's probably saving the big moment for his Nonna. Ha, ha Lofton!

Off to pack. Maybe I won't forget formula this time!

baby shower

My dear friend Morgan's baby shower was today. She is beautiful and glowing {and not just cause it's hot}.




I love to see my friends happy.

Liam is due to arrive at the end of July and he will be at no loss for stylish clothes or toys. The kid is set. Lofton brought Reese by for an end of party cameo. He was quite the hit with two of my favorite people; Morgan's mom and grandmother. They crack me up!

Happy baby day, Morgie. I am over the moon excited about Liam's impending arrival. You are going to be a fabulous mom.

{I totally janked this picture from somebody's facebook album. It's cute, right?}

bubbly bunky

{new post below}

sippy cups and tears

When I alluded to the new "Baby" phase we are moving into, I should have clarified we are diving head first. It's been an exhausting week. I am trying to ween Reese to a sippy cup {part-time}, and then the sweet baby who last week napped with no problems now screams bloody murder when I lay him in his crib.

I totally understand that when can't see me he thinks I'm gone. I also understand that he knows if he screams for ten minutes I'm going to get him out and rock him. We are undergoing a battle of the wills here at the Beasley house. And I think Reese is winning.

We went to the doctor yesterday. Reese is fine. However, I took the opportunity to chat with Dr. Greer about our frustrating lack of progress with the sippy cup. He basically said that Reese is learning to manipulate his environment and that includes me. He knows that if he doesn't want the cup, I'm eventually going to relent and give him the bottle. I certainly don't want him to dehydrate!

I mentioned dehydration to Dr. Greer and he said, "Elizabeth, have you ever seen a starving child in Ethiopia who won't eat broccoli?" Yeah, yeah, I get it. If he gets thirsty enough he'll drink from the cup. Battle on.

Trouble

{Please ignore the disastrous state of our coffee table. }

Eight months. Where have the days gone?

Reese is growing in more ways than one. Obviously size is no issue here. Lofton has taken to calling him little big man. Which if funny, but so true. carrying him around is a workout.

The past week of being home with him has been both a blessing and a curse. I really didn’t think I’d love it as much as I do.

We are working on taking two good naps a day, at pretty regular times, as opposed to whenever he feels like it. So far so good with this plan. He seems to be adjusting to the new schedule well. I had to tweak his bottle times but that hasn’t been an issue either. I can promise you that we would know if he was upset with his eating schedule!

This more structured nap schedule has lead to the one thing Lofton and I have been waiting for forever… SLEEPING THROUGH THE NIGHT. I didn’t think the day would ever come. When Reese was born people would say “feed him more” or “when he weighs more he’ll sleep through the night”- yeah, whatever. My favorite was, “at twelve pounds he should sleep through the night.” Seriously??? My kid weighed twelve pounds at five weeks old.

The other big change the past month has been this dynamic personality. Reese has the charm of his daddy and the temperament of us both. He can be so funny, so sweet, and such a flirt with the ladies. Then without notice he turns into a growling, grunting, yelling firecracker.

If you are a frequent reader, you know that Reese has terrible allergies. Because of this I wipe his nose. Often. Maybe too often, but I can’t stand the thought of snot on his face. He gets super annoyed with my nose wiping and so his new favorite trick is to purse his lips and blow spit in my face.

Trick number two? Trying to grab the spoon while we are feeding him. Or Lofton’s personal favorite, sticking his fingers in his mouth BEFORE he swallows his food. This morning he did it multiple times. Finally I gently grabbed his hand and firmly said “no.” The waterworks ensued.

I’ve had to use the dreaded two letter word on more than one occasion lately and it usually results in his tears. I’m not so sure about this phase of parenting. I’m pretty sure discipline is not an area I’m going to be good at. Can you put your kid in silent lunch? Send him to the principal? What about Block Suspension? Probably not.

Some real tricks we’ve developed? Almost crawling, being able to sit up from lying down, and pulling up on everything. He would also prefer to pick up random pieces of dirt or dog hair off the floor rather than play with his toys. This age is so much fun for us. Lofton and I love to watch Reese play. You can tell he is thinking, studying his toys, paying attention to everything around him. I’ve really been bumping up our reading. Shakespeare. Steinbeck. Homer.

Capturing pictcures was difficult this morning. Bunky is quite the squirmer!

lake lounging

We packed up Saturday morning and headed to the lake to visit with Lofton's family. We were sad Mamie and Paw Paw weren't there to hang out with us, but excited to see the Hurst clan and Lofton's parents.

We arrived around nine and I immediately lathered Reese in SPF 50 and toted him down to the docks. That fun adventure lasted all of ten minutes. He was tired and it was nap time.

Sleep was an issue at the lake. But more about that later! Here are some snapshots of our day.

Post-nap in the frog pool.

Trying to keep Bunky from eating grass that was floating in the water.

My boys.

Mimi trying to keep Easy B from going overboard.

Analee, checking out the action in the water.

Lofton reliving the glory days of his youth.

Sleep. It was an issue. Reese just doesn't sleep well when he isn't at home in his crib. Truthfully, I don't sleep well when I'm not at home in my own bed either. I'll be honest, I did not want to spend the night at the lake because I anticipated we would have difficulty with sleep. However, Lofton wanted to try it and so I agreed to give it a go.

Reese did not sleep at all. He was restless in the pack and play, he could never get comfortable. He kept crying out- keep in mind the three of us are all in the same room. Finally I got him out of the pack and play and put him on me. That worked for maybe an hour, then Lofton tried the same approach with no success. Around three (in the morning), I made Reese a pallet on the floor. That was also unsuccessful. Finally at 5:30 we threw in the towel and got up. We went ahead and packed our things so that after breakfast we could scoot on home. Little man napped most of the day yesterday and slept soundly in his bed last night.

We go to Pensacola for our first beach trip in two weeks. I am taking a new approach and bringing the crib mattress with us. I have a plan that will hopefully work. If not, our travels will continue to be exhausting.

Sleep aside, the day was so much fun. Reese loves to watch Brennan and Analee play and before we know it he'll be joining in. Easy B {as I've nicknamed Brennan because he is so laid back} is six months older than Reese. If you can believe it, Reese outweighs Brennan by two pounds! Unbelievable.