Sophie's Back!!!

The long-awaited day has arrived.  I tracked Sophie this morning, as I have been very impatient for her arrival, & UPS was scheduled to have her at our doorstep today!  So, as Mike & I embarked on our first "replacement" toy/pet game, thankfully, some of the peace has been restored here.  

 

A couple other revelations have taken place in the Schweitzberger.Hanson household this week as well.  As most of you that are reading are parents, I'm sure you have reached a point where you need to decide how much of the baby stuff you're going to keep.  In all scenarios out there, you can play the 'what if' game, but sometimes it just gets to the point of how long do you want to store all of that stuff.  Not that we have that much piling up quite yet, but I am such an organization/de-clutter freak, that it's enough for me!  Michael said the other day that we should just get rid of Oliver's clothes that are taking over his dresser so we can restock on apparel that actually fits him.  I kind of shrugged it off & in the back of my mind was like 'no way man'!  But then all of a sudden, like the next day, I realized that Oliver was not fitting into anything we have for him!  So came the crossroads.  Do we save his adorable little mini clothing or should I give it to someone who could get some use out of them as well...

Well...I decided that I would keep some of my favs & get rid of the rest.  But then I realized I would actually have to take everything out of the dresser, fold it up, place everything in bags & say goodbye.  I was bawling!  I had to call my mother to reassure me it was okay ;)  I don't know why I was so emotionally attached to something that he probably had a major blowout in...maybe it was just that everything was so little & it just reminded me that our little baby wasn't going to be a baby forever...dang! 

A sad, but true parenting revelation.

The next thing that is starting to evolve around here is the bedtime/naptime routine.  Up until now, we have just let Oliver call the shots.  I'm sure some of you that just read that were like "what?! you need a routine asap!!! what are you thinking!?".  Call me too attached if you want, but up until last night, I would always walk around with him in my arms once he showed signs of fussiness or being tired until he finally...finally went to sleep.  Then to only hope he kept his eyes closed in dreamland when I layed him down.  If not, I would scoop him back up & try again, until he finally...finally went to sleep.  Oliver is known around here to fight napping & bedtime...I mean, Mike & I are pretty cool, so I think he just thinks he's going to miss out on something awesome we do.  Anyway, it was time for a new routine for Mr. Oliver 'Napfighter' Schweitzberger.  As he was clearly tired last night, but wouldn't fall asleep in my arms...I decided that this was it!  I sat down with him in his room, read him two goodnight books, layed him down in his crib, turned on his humidifier, covered him up, whispered quietly that it was bedtime & Mama needed to finish cleaning the kitchen, kissed him on his forehead & left the room.  I listened...& listened...& peeked...& went back to check again...& what do you know...the lil Shizer went to sleep on his own!!!  The greatest of revelations!  Again today...as he was getting his morning fuss on & leaning towards morning naptime time...I layed him in his bed, quietly whispered it's naptime, kissed him on his forehead & left the room.  Well...this time he wasn't going to give up the fight so easily.  About 10 times of going back in, flipping him back onto his back, covering him back up, kissing his forehead...he finally surrendered to the naptime.  And I'm happy because it's getting harder & harder to hold a 19ish lb baby around until he decides it's time to shut his eyes.  So, we are going to head to the library today & pick out some more bedtime books for our new nightly routine. 

    

And here's another quick video of something else he's been doing more lately..."self-feeding"...well he tries too, usually gets more on his face & down in that nasty nook under his neck, but the knows what to do at least.  Haha!  Mike & I have watched this video 100 times because of his finale...wait for it.