Living in Munchkinland

So I thought I would post about our latest development in sleeping. For a little background, Davis is two tomorrow. When he was born we decided to practice attachment parenting and co-sleeping etc. That worked great until he was about five months and then I realized that I needed more structure and more space or I might kill myself or others. (Okay maybe not that drastic, but close.) I still wanted to breastfeed on demand and hold and cuddle and all that, but I did not want to sleep with him anymore. We were up every hour and I was tired. But I was afraid to let him cry and so this went on till he was seven months. We tried the no cry sleep solution and it was a joke. Didn’t work for us at all. At seven months I read, Healthy Sleep Habits, Happy child and decided to use “extinction” with Davis. I actually couldn’t do it, so I left the house each night and let Michael watch the monitor as Davis cried for over an hour until he fell asleep. It took three days and then he slept...

Shout it from the rooftops! Michael has passed his CCNA exam with flying colors! We are so happy and so excited. This test is what brought us here to Phoenix. Michael is officially an engineer. Hip, Hip, Hooray!!! I am so proud of my man. Lift your virtual glass for a toast to Michael. Cheers!

I love how whenever I go tuck Davis in at night, he is surrounded by small vehicles. Tonight I went in to check on him and found a tractor clutched in his right hand, a fire truck under his right thigh and a train near his left hip. I carefully took them away and set his head on his pillow and tucked his lovey back under his chin. I love my little boy.

Hi there. Today we had a new adventure. We went to Kid Town here in Tempe. We met my friend Shana and her little girl Kalli. Davis and Kalli have a little thing going we think. They LOVE each other. We hope they grow up and marry. Not that we are pushing or anything. :) It's been overcast and rainy so we thought that an indoor adventure would be fun. The kids loved it. There were cars that you could pedal "fred flintstone" style and little playrooms all around the outside. There was also an exersaucer so I tried Sam in it. He liked it! I can't believe he's getting so big already! After the playdate, we drove down the street to our favorite Tempe sushi joint, Sushi Eye and met our husbands for lunch. Michael ended up bringing his whole work crew! It was fun and delicious. Davis loves vegetable tempura and seaweed salad. Then we came home and the kids took long naps. Yay! As an update, Sam had his four month pediatrician visit on Wednesday. He's...

We had a very nice weekend. Michael and I had planned to go the renaissance fair this weekend, but at the last minute, we decided to go to the St. Paddy's Day parade and fair instead. We loaded up the babes and had an early breakfast at our new favorite place, The Wildflower Bread Company. Then we headed up to Phoenix for the parade. We got there early and staked a good spot. We found some shade! Then we sat and waited and waited. Our shade moved away from us. We chatted with our neighbors. And waited and waited. Finally the parade came! And stopped. And we waited and waited. Turned out there was a medical emergency. Probably heat exhaustion. We had record breaking heat this weekend. It got up to 98 degrees here in Tempe. We sweltered and waited and finally the rest of the parade came. It was pretty tame. I only saw two floats and one marching band. The rest were politicians in cars and city service people. Davis really liked the firetrucks and mounted poli...

Yesterday we went and had Samuel's ultrasound done on his sacral dimple. We had one done when he was three days old and it was inconclusive. They recommended that we do an MRI. After discussion with our past and current pediatricians, we decided to try another ultrasound before moving on to the MRI. We went yesterday and he was very good. They got some good pictures and we got the results from the radiologist today. Sam is fine! His spine looks great and there is no cyst. He is normal! Perfect! Beautiful! I am so happy and so relieved. It has been hard to carry around the worry in the back of my head for almost four months. Our sweet little boy is healthy. Hip, Hip, Hooray!

Yesterday was my birthday. I turned thirty. I am no longer in my twenties. In Texas, I have always loved how the bluebonnets start appearing around my birthday. Are they out yet? I was kind of sad to miss it, but when I went outside today, I was hit by the sweet perfume of orange blossoms. It made me feel so happy. I love that scent and it was like a special birthday present from mother nature. I like this age. I think I feel pretty good about it. I'm thinking that you get more respect when you are in your thirties. Maybe I have more wisdom. I always hoped that I would be married with children by the time I turned thirty and I managed to do that. I also hoped I would be a firm, fit thirty and I didn't quite meet that goal. Oh well. I'm working on it. When I was about twenty or so I went to Santa Barbara for the weekend. I was having lunch and I looked over at another table and saw a beautiful woman having lunch. She was thin and tan and about thirty to thirt...

We had a great time in Costa Rica. We got back on Saturday night and spent Sunday recuperating. It was a fun trip and a once in a lifetime experience. We stayed in Tamarindo, which is on the northwest coast. My parents rented a villa called Casa Paquita in which we all stayed. You can check it out here: Casa Paquita The house was beautiful. It had three levels and a guest house. The infinity pool looked over the ocean and the white sand beach. We had a gate and a little pathway down to the beach. Each evening the sun would set just over our little piece of beach and it was beautiful. The weather was HOT. It was mid nineties every day and very humid. We spent a lot of time in the pool. Almost none of the roads were paved. We had two rental cars, but driving was a hot, dusty, bumpy process. There is also not much plumbing in Tamarindo. You had to be very careful about how and when you flushed the toilet. It was primitive, but so beautiful, you just didn't mind. The vil...