About sleep and other topics

I'm home all by myself in peace and quiet today. I've been fighting allergies and/or a cold (not sure which) for going on 3 weeks now. I should have taken a day off a long time ago, but here I am. I feel better today than I did all last week. Better late than never. I've got comfy clothes on, a Caribou Hot Apple Blast by my side, TV, and a few projects I'd like to get started on. And a nap. There will be napping.

If the boys weren't such early birds I could get more sleep! Ben nurses at about 7:20 and is passed out and in bed by 7:45 every night. He wakes up, pretty reliably, at 5:00 on the dot every morning. He's finally sleeping through the night. I decided once he turned 10 months that I needed to be done nursing him in the middle of the night when he woke up. I loved that quiet time with him in the dark, but it was more for selfish reasons that I allowed it. A good sleeping habit is more important than midnight nursing (good Lord, have we learned that!). We had about a week of really rough nights. We timed it pretty poorly and sleep training ended up coinciding with teething. After a few nights of Ibuprofen and after his teeth cut through, something clicked and he's been sleeping much better since. Sometimes after I nurse him when he wakes up in the morning he falls back asleep and lets me snuggle him up.

Now if we could pass that sleep through the night dust to Colin that would be great. I don't think he'll ever sleep all night consistently. He has blanket issues. He's pretty helpless in the middle of the night and needs help covering himself up at some point almost every night. And now he's switched his preference in HOW to cover him up. He use to want to be snug as a bug in a rug, but now he wants it "smooth like the bike path." ::sigh:: 3 year olds. As soon as he hears that someone in the house is awake, he's awake too. He doesn't want to miss anything.

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Not about sleep...

I worked on Colin's Halloween costume yesterday and finished it. He's going on a "field trip" to the child development class at the high school, and they were supposed to wear their costume so I had to rush and finish it. I haven't seen him wear it yet, so I hope it's cute. I can't tell you what it is yet. Ben's going to be adorable too.

We have officially paid off our first credit card and now our snowball is rolling and growing very quickly! Our second credit card should be paid off in December! This feels SO good. I also just enrolled two new kids for piano lessons and there are quite a few more interested. The money from all of these new students is going straight to the credit cards.

I have an iPhone now. Kevin gave me his hand-me-down. That is part of the reason for the lack of pictures and the lack of updates. It will be nice to have it for piano lessons--scheduling, recording, etc.

Halloween

A little late, but that's okay :) These aren't the best pictures, but you get the idea.
Colin was a puppy for Halloween. Here he is on the step saying cheese.
His first door. We were at the next door neighbor's house. He rang the doorbell and ran. Kid's already a pro at ding dong ditch. We made him stay and after he found out he got candy, he didn't run away at the other doors. ;) He went to just a handful of houses of neighbors he knows, and then later went to his Grandma and Grandpa's house.Here's what our front step looked like on Halloween. The mum is courtesy of my mum. Pumpkins courtesy of Kevin's mum. And, of course, Colin's super cute carving all lit up.
And a video of Colin in his costume. This is after he was done trick or treating in the neighborhood and just before he went to Grandma's house.

Pumpkin Carving

We carved a pumpkin this afternoon. Kevin hadn't done it in who knows how many years. After he got the top cut off, he said, "this is why I don't deer hunt." He hates the cleaning/gutting part. Even with pumpkins, apparently.

This part wasn't too thrilling for Colin, but he was patient enough for a 2 and a half year old.
Colin drew a face on the pumpkin and Kevin cut it out.
Inspecting the cut out piece
The finished result. Yes, the smile is off to the side. That's how he drew it.And one with Daddy in it...
Now we're all ready to go for tomorrow's first Trick or Treating experience :)