a big Mommy thanks

Happy Mother's Day to all the Moms I know.

I have to send a big thank you to my friend Nicole. We were in the same club at Harding quite a few years ago, and it has been so good to be in touch with her through Facebook and blogs. She has given me lots of advice the past year (she has a 2 year old boy), and recently her advice has really shown me what a great mom, and friend, she is.

Ryan, Mr. Roly Poly Oly, can once again be changed on the changing table in his room. Nicole told me to use my "mean mommy voice", so I tried it. When he starts to flip over, I lift his arms from the rail, lay him on his back again, and sternly say, "No." He actually gets upset for about 20 seconds when I do this, but then he will lay still for most of the diaper change. I usually have to do it again if we are also changing his clothes. I'm amazed at how a 7 month old can respond to this kind of correction. I've started using the same voice when he starts taking things from his sister and climbing on top of her.

The naptime/bedtime routine has been better too. We are back down to 15-20 mintues for them to go to sleep. Nicole gave me advice I'd heard before in regards to older children, but I didn't realize it would work with 7 month olds so well. When we put them in their cribs for nap or bedtime, I turn the mobiles on and let them roll around and play for 5-10 minutes. Then I go in, lay them down, give them their cuddlie (half stuffed animal, half blanket), and say, "It's time to go to sleep now." They usually get into the sleep position and close their eyes and try to go to sleep. If/When they are fussing again and I go in reposition them, I don't say anything or make eye contact. I just lay them on thier side again, and repostion the cuddlie and their blanket.

Using the next size up diaper is mostly helping with the leaking at night. Last night I forgot to put Ryan in the bigger diaper at bedtime thinking he would make it to the 10:30 feeding fine, but he woke up at 9 having leaked through. The boy must have a really large bladder. He did fine in the bigger diapers the rest of the night with a diaper change at 4:30 am. The worst part about last nights wetting was that it got on his cuddlie, and we didn't have another cuddlie that had been washed yet. I had extras in the top of the closet, but hadn't gotten them out yet. So this morning they are all in the wash so he will have one next time. We gave him a burp rag to snuggle with, but we could tell he knew it was different.

This afternoon I'm going over to be with a friend who just had a baby a few weeks ago. It's amazing to see this newborn and think that my babies were actually smaller than that just 7 months ago. I don't even remember it really. Time passes swiftly, and I am blessed to have each moment.