Just For Fun

Here is where Rodrigo played yesterday while Mama rearranged most of the room (she needs some walkin' space where she doesn't have to sashay while groggy).

And here's us playing on the rug. Well, 'playing' may be too liberal a term for Rodrigo hiccuping and me laughing at him...

Can I Get A 'Amen'?!

Forgive me as I wax poetic like a Revival preacher.

Praise be to the Lord Almighty! He that hath worked a Wondrous Miracle in my life hath also opened mine ears to the glory of His Voice. 
His Voice which is soft like the rain. 
His Voice which is deep and terrible as thunder.
His Voice which moves through all like the wind.
His Voice, which through all these things brings to the hearts and minds of His children peace, love, and sleep.

Praise God from whom all Blessings flow!
Amen.*

*translation: It worked! And did I mention we'd covered the sides of the crib with blankets so he can't see us? He slept from 8pm to 5am straight! And then he had two good naps (working on nap #3 right now)!
I'll explain more of the miracle later when I'm not trying to convince Rodrigo to sleep while his father power-washes something in the backyard. Sheesh.

Go To Bed, Sleepy Head

*This is not a current picture. Obviously.

So, anyone who saw my facebook status the other day knows that we've been having sleep troubles 'round these parts. 
First there's the guest issue. We have him currently in the living room because he's related to his Grandma and likes warmer weather. I, however, cannot sleep at any temperature above 75 degrees fahrenheit. Even that's pushing it. So he's out in the living room which means guests and family are gently (and sometimes not-so-gently) shoved out on their butts come bedtime. This makes me feel bad, like I'm inconveniencing people and I don't like doing that.
Then there's the problem where Rodrigo here would wake up every 2-4 hours at night for 10 hours, while napping only about 3 times for roughly 30 minutes each, thus racking up only about 11 1/2 - 12 hours of sleep total.
Even on the nights when he'd get in 6 straight hours, he's got Mama so trained that she'd wake up at the regular intervals regardless of whether or not he got up.

You see my problem.

So we've tried several things: rice cereal for dinner, total darkness, crying it out, earlier/later bedtime, etc. All worked in their own way, but nothing has really seemed to stick and keep him down.
We started playing with the idea of ambient noise. Pooh and I are both partial to rain sounds (hey, if we've gotta hear it we're gonna like it) and we found the perfect track...
... which costs $6. Boo.
Then we find one that has a calm, steady rain and distant thunder (one of my favorite types of weather) that was significantly cheaper. We happened to have an Amazon Mp3 credit. Awesome, right? Well the trick was seeing if the thunder would be just right to wake him up. 
So I buy it, sync it, and plug it in as he's doing his "I'm sooo tired but I'm still sooo angry that I'm going to huff and puff and blow your house in," and as soon as it starts playing he's out! He's asleep! He even slept through a stray draft blowing the door shut! I don't know if this is all just coincidence or not, and we've yet to see if this'll lull the monster through the night, but he hasn't woken up (stirred, not shaken) and it's looking good for the long haul!

In a nutshell:

Best $0.89 purchase I didn't actually have to pay for.

5 Month Check-In

Dear sweet boy, how can anyone ever be exasperated at you with that face?
At 5 months, our little Piglet, our darling Rodrigo, is many things.

- He's too tall for us to use his walker (pictured here) as a feeding station anymore. Those dang piggies of his reach the floor on all settings!
- He's discovered his tongue, and his version of sticking it out is adorable, and often makes me wonder if he's hungry (he's not).
- He seems to say words randomly. Words like "hi!" to Grandma walking by, or "help!" any time his father has him. It's kind of our favorite sound right now.
- He has two teeth that make him want to chew on everything! Look out, cousin Maccabee! Payback is a'comin'!
- He MUST have things that are:
         * not his
         * just out of reach
         * Mom's food
         * not his
- He can't figure out whether or not sleeping is his thing yet. 
- He flirts with ALL the ladies, including mom. I've turned him down nicely a few times, but with such adorable and insistent advances, I suppose I'll just enjoy them while I'm still Mom the Amazing and not Mom the Hag who won't let him go out with that girl because she's pierced all over, I understand she's probably really nice and awesome, but we're setting a precedent here. Besides, you're spoken for.
- He loves being sung to. Whether it's Raffi,  daddy's made up songs (kinda like this), or hymns, his face lights up with smiles and sometimes giggles.
- He can't stand not knowing what's going on. I'm sure my mother will enjoy the revenge.
- He's scared of/fascinated/horrified by Grandma's blender.
- He loves, LOVES, LOVES sweet potatoes.
- He likes trying, but crawling and sitting up are still works in progress.

And that's where we stand at 5 months.

Champ or Monster?

How about both?

Morning, champ!

Rawr! All fear the sweet potato monster!

(check out the tiny teefs!)

Baby Elephants On Parade

As much as Dumbo creeped me out as a kid (and probably still would if I were to watch it today), it's the song "Pink Elephants On Parade" that I can't keep out of my head when I think of the adorableness to follow.

This is for all you lovelies that don't get my facebook feed. Please forgive the apparent brain malfunction where I thought a video camera was like a photo camera.

An Eventful Summer

And yet the most uneventful of all.  The first day we were rear-ended on the drive home from the airport, so there was no vehicle for us to use most of the trip.  It didn't make much difference, though, since I was trying to keep Rodrigo on California time, so we got up late in the morning and went to bed late at night.  Well, late as far as my body was concerned.

One of the first events Rodrigo got to enjoy was naptime on the floor.

Here he is, enjoying such a nap on the rug with his buddy, Alfredo.
Then, the Fourth came and things got super exciting! Rodrigo saw his first fireworks (almost against his will) and got to show off a little patriotism, too!

The camera on the phone broke for a long time, but suddenly it came back and we celebrated with a sleepy picture when we stopped for gas on our way to greet Uncle Ick's friend home from his mission!

Then of course, the cousins were there! Maccabee taught our little sir how to hold his own head up, roll over, and even started him on crawling.

And  now we're back in California, safe and sound.  To celebrate, we went outside! (something we could not do in OK...)

So, that's us!